MILWAUKEE – The Wisconsin Volleyball Coaches Association announced a list of changes in awards protocol, procedures, and representative balance. These changes, which were voted upon last fall and the details finalized this month, will go into effect for the 2018 season.

The first major development comes in relation to the All-State voting procedure. This season, the WVCA will announce postseason honors specific to each of the four WIAA-sanctioned divisions. Specifically, Division 1 and Division 2 will each have its own First Team, Second Team, and Honorable Mention squads, while Divisions 3 & 4 will each have a First Team and Honorable Mention list.

“We have had great discussions with our statewide membership, many of whom have expressed the desire to shift to division-specific All-State Teams,” WVCA Executive Director Jay Messar said. “We spent all last season sampling what has proven effective with other coaching associations and tailored this new format to our needs.”

With the change in awards designation, the WVCA will also reassign who will do the player assessments, analysis, and voting process. This season, a WVCA Division Chair will lead each divisional grouping, with seven other Sectional Representatives comprising the panel. The WVCA worked to ensure some balance of geography and school size with 31 different conferences being represented.

Before 2018, the WVCA used a district model in which 14 coaches represented seven districts, regardless of school size.

“From resources to recognition, we ultimately hope this new format will allow for coaches and their players to get more out of our organization,” Messar said. “While we still have a lot of new ideas, practices, and protocol in the works, we hope this will only improve statewide engagement and reach untapped corners of the state that might have previously been underrepresented.”

The All-State Awards nomination procedure will remain mostly the same, as coaches must be an active WVCA member and can only nominate players from his/her own team. Nominations will open after the first weekend of the regular season, but remain open until October 1. All registrations and nominations will also take place on the new WVCA website: www.wisvca.org.

Sectional Representatives - 2018

Division 1

Sectional 1: Corey Davis, Menomonie (Big Rivers)
Sectional 2: Steve Scheuerell, Appleton North (Fox Valley Association)
Sectional 3: TJ Rantala, Sun Prairie (Big Eight)
Sectional 4: Alison Tanking, West Bend West (North Shore)
Sectional 5: Scott Spiess, Brookfield Central (Greater Metro)
Sectional 6: Megan Awe, Westosha Central (Southern Lakes)
Sectional 7: Kelly Schmidt, Greendale (Woodland)
Sectional 8: Stephanie Lamers, Mukwonago (Classic Eight)

Division 2

Sectional 1A: Elizabeth Bohl, Bloomer (Heart O’North)
Sectional 1B: Justin Jacobs, Mosinee (Great Northern)
Sectional 2A: Ben Alexander-Wolf, Notre Dame (Fox River Classic)
Sectional 2B: Luke Herriges, Xavier (Bay)
Sectional 3A: Kurt Owen, Mount Horeb (Badger)
Sectional 3B: Jeremy Weis, East Troy (Rock Valley)
Sectional 4A: Stephanie Prochnow, Kettle Moraine Lutheran (Eastern Wisconsin)
Sectional 4B: Kristin Perkins, St. Thomas More (Midwest Classic)

Division 3

Sectional 1A: Deb Allaman-Johnson, Grantsburg (Lakeland)
Sectional 1B: Pam Meredith, Colfax (Dunn-St. Croix)
Sectional 2A: James Bremness, Cadott (Cloverbelt)
Sectional 2B: Molly Myers, Crivitz (Marinette & Oconto)
Sectional 3A: Keri Lawson, Cuba City (Southwest Activities)
Sectional 3B: Nicole Bakalars, Waterloo (Capitol)
Sectional 4A: Eric Dean, Algoma (Packerland)
Sectional 4B: Dawn Walker, Living Word Lutheran (Metro Classic)

Division 4

Sectional 1A: Robyn Schoeneman, Mercer (Indianhead)
Sectional 1B: Sadie Schradle, Clayton (Lakeland)
Sectional 2A: Holly Meverden, Tigerton (Central Wisconsin)
Sectional 2B: Kathy Luther, Athens (Marawood)
Sectional 3A: Craig Baeseman, Royall (Ridge & Valley)
Sectional 3B: Diane Langmeier, River Ridge (Six Rivers)
Sectional 4A: Jeff Kohlbeck, Randolph (Trailways)
Sectional 4B: Kristin Remington, Hilbert (Big East)