Just out of curiosity, anyone have idea of those that have achieved elite(37+) via mainyl low bar vs highbar
High bar
kingfish
rip?
low bar
uh?
kingfish is the only person that I know off and whose progress and means to it are
somewhat (but not perfectly) pursuable from here and TVS that actually got his SVJ to 37" or higher. That tells me some things about either the general wisdom of how to approach training (for example to make training decisions based upon which of the alternatives you
like best while at the same expecting perfect results) OR about the improvements possible in this area. Neither of these things is something people like to hear about, so I will leave it at that.
One also has to observe that kingfish did amazing progress from a reported mid 20s SVJ to I believe around 38", but that it also took him many years to accomplish this. And also that he seems to be a great exception from the rule based on all the VJ enthusiasts on the related forums and their below-elite results, based upon your categorization at least.
Rip had incredible success also, but his situation does NOT apply to the majority of people here since he started with a high RVJ already when he was I believe 14 years old. Anyone remotely familiar with the typical hormonal changes that go on from this age up to the early 20s might become skeptical whether the same progress would be possible for someone who is not a teenager anymore and starts from rather low VJ and thus seems to be less talented in the first place. One also has to take note of his not-elite (again, based upon your definition) SVJ.
In conclusion and based upon these two examples it seems to be far fetched to say that the usage of the high-bar squat does correlate with better success in VJ training, especially in face of the fact that so many more people use the high-bar variant and don't get to the level you described as elite. On the other hand there is tychver, who stopped training for VJ years ago and yet has to show a respectable running and standing jump - below elite by your definition, but pretty good for someone with his build and not even trying anymore to jump high. He squats low-bar, ATG and does olympic weightlifting. You could also take me as example of someone with below elite results, but there are still not so many people around here or TVS with a 36" SVJ, are there? Not even two years training time, interrupted by three volleyball seasons where only little athletic training took place, is not excessive either, or would you say so?
So the small number of people that used the low-bar squat in the first place did not get to elite results yet, but can still report good progress, in fact better than the majority of people using the high-bar variant.
Now, I would not conclude anything from this. But anecdotally it should tell you that doing squats low-bar and below parallel is not the antithesis to athleticism.