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Wilkes-Barre City Council member Tony Brooks testifies in Harrisburg on LGBT legislation

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<p>Each year, it&#8217;s the same old question. Can any team unseat Holy Redeemer on top of the Wyoming Valley Conference girls volleyball standings?</p><p>But in 2016, each coach has something different on their mind. That something is the new PIAA classifications for the postseason.</p><p>Poll each coach. Ask for his or her opinion. No answer is the same.</p><p>There is reserved judgment from most. Others are outright thrilled. Some understand the changes, even though they don&#8217;t agree with it.</p><p>&#8220;I&#8217;m OK with it,&#8221; Nanticoke coach Debbie Gavin said. &#8220;We are still going to prepare the same way as we do every season. It&#8217;s one match at a time.&#8221;</p><p>&#8220;It&#8217;s going to give greater opportunities to District 2 schools, which is a great thing,&#8221; North Pocono coach Jim Kramer said.</p><p>What do the new classes look like?</p><p>For some, there are no changes. MMI Prep is still in the smallest class, along with Blue Ridge, Susquehanna and Mountain View.</p><p>Wyoming Valley West, Hazleton Area and Delaware Valley are now the new Class 4A. Because there are only three teams in the district, a subregional with District 11 will be formed.</p><p>&#8220;I like how we did it in the past with the four teams. We had our own tournament, and we had our own district championship,&#8221; Wyoming Valley West head coach R.J. Tomascik said. &#8220;I think it takes away a little bit, but I understand. Now, we are just going to have to pay attention to District 11, which always has competitive volleyball.&#8221;</p><p>The biggest changes are 2A and 3A.</p><p>Holy Redeemer, the multiple-time defending conference and district 2A champ, remains in that classification. It&#8217;s the teams around them that drastically change. Dunmore, the Lackawanna League power, is still 2A. Gone are teams like Crestwood, North Pocono, Nanticoke and Wyoming Area &#8212; all squads that have battled with the Royals in past postseasons.</p><p>The new 2A consists of Dunmore, Elk Lake, Meyers, Forest City, GAR, Hanover Area, Redeemer, Lackawanna Trail, Lake-Lehman and Montrose.</p><p>&#8220;I do like it, especially if you look at it state-wide,&#8221; Redeemer head coach Jack Kablick said. &#8220;If you look at the 16 state teams that made the 2A postseason in 2015, 13 of them are now 3A teams. Wellsboro, us and Delone Catholic were the only 2A teams.</p><p>&#8220;If you look at the last nine years we&#8217;ve made states, we&#8217;ve only lost to one team that&#8217;s now classified as 2A, and that was Delone Catholic in a match that was extremely competitive.&#8221;</p><p>The new District 2 Class 3A is made up of Abington Heights, Berwick, Crestwood, Dallas, Nanticoke, Coughlin, North Pocono, Pittston Area, Tunkhannock, Western Wayne and Wyoming Area.</p><p>&#8220;Every year, you could have a different champ,&#8221; Crestwood head coach Mike Williams said. &#8220;Which isn&#8217;t a bad thing. It keeps it interesting.&#8221;</p><p>As for the Wyoming Valley Conference title, it could be up in the air, as Kablick admits.</p><p>It could be a number of teams. DelVal is always strong. Redeemer&#8217;s a perennial state power. You can&#8217;t count out Valley West and junior standout Gracie Giza. Crestwood is also expected to field a competitive squad with two nice middles and experienced setter Ally Olszyk. And that&#8217;s not counting Nanticoke, which is always in the hunt.</p><p>&#8220;Delaware Valley might be the favorite,&#8221; Kablick said. &#8220;Everyone is saying that we lost everything, and I can&#8217;t disagree with them. We have to replace 27 rotations. People have us somewhere between one and four. And the girls hear that. I think they have a little chip on their shoulders because they understand the tradition we have at Holy Redeemer.</p><p>&#8220;Every year, we&#8217;ve always had that one big hitter. I don&#8217;t know if we have that this year, but we do have a roster of good, versatile, athletic players.&#8221;</p><style>
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<div class="neCaption">Senior Serena Breinhoffer and the rest of the Crestwood Comets are considered a team to watch in the new district 3A class. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo0>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/web1_TTL100915volleyball2-1.jpg</photo0><caption0>Senior Serena Breinhoffer and the rest of the Crestwood Comets are considered a team to watch in the new district 3A class. </caption0><photoCredit0>Aimee Dilger file photo | Times Leader </photoCredit0></div></div>
<div class="metaInfo"><bylineMeta><p>By Tom Fox</p><p>For Times Leader</p></bylineMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><shirttailMeta><p>Reach Times Leader sports at 570-829-7143 or on Twitter @TLsports.</p></shirttailMeta></div>

2016 WVC girls volleyball preview: Coaches prepare for changes