The St. Henry Crusaders volleyball team knew it had less than 24 hours to bounce back from the tight loss at Louisville Assumption on Tuesday.
The rising Beechwood Tigers (2-2 overall) came to Holbrook Hall looking to take more steps forward. Beechwood battled St. Henry (4-1) but the Crusaders had too much balance for the Tigers in the 3-0 (25-12, 25-17, 25-11) 9th Region victory.
“We’re just getting started so they’re anxious. They’re excited,” said Maureen Kaiser, St. Henry head coach. “We have to keep going and building on what we started in mid-July. They come with a lot of passion. That’s what we try to teach. We’re a family.”
Things started with solid serving. St. Henry recorded seven aces to four for Beechwood. Then defensively, the Crusaders had 42 digs to 27 for the Tigers.
St. Henry won net battles recording six blocks, 31 kills and 22 assists compered to two blocks, 15 kills and 11 assists for Beechwood. Junior setter Audrey Leonard and junior setter/outside hitter Macy Lentz had excellent all-around games for the Crusaders. Leonard had 13 digs, 14 assists, two kills, one block and two aces. Lentz had six digs, seven assists, six kills, one block and three aces.
“I feel like the serves were pretty good against a scrappy team like Beechwood,” Leonard said. “We had a few missed serves. We did a good job placing our serves.”
Junior defensive specialist Elizabeth Tabeling dazzled in the back digging up 13 balls and tallying one ace and two kills. Her two kills came off digs that found the floor on the other side of the net.
Eight different Crusaders recorded kills. Juniors Alivia Skidmore and Anna Guard had seven kills each with senior 6-foot-2 senior middle blocker Josie Schroder recording four kills and two blocks. Guard added two blocks.
“It’s really nice to have a lot of teammates who can take the load with the kills and stuff because you have so many options,” Schroder said. “It keeps the other team guessing as well. You don’t know where to block. It’s nice when you do have a swing because most of the time it’s one-on-one with a blocker. Your shoulder doesn’t get as sore either.”
Senior outside hitter Katie Rolf led the Beechwood effort recording 12 digs, five kills and two aces. Senior Reagan Ramey had nine assists with senior defensive specialist Lily Davis tallying seven digs.
“They’re a very fast-paced team,” said Carly Smith, Beechwood head coach. “We do things at a slower pace, which usually works for us. But we just couldn’t get the hang of it. St. Henry has a lot of strong hitters and defenders. We made too many errors on our part with passing and hitting. If we’d have done better on both of those, we’d have probably hung in there a little bit better. Honestly, we can learn a lot from a team like that. For as well as we did point-wise against them, we’ll be fine.”
Beechwood led briefly to start the first game but St. Henry scored the next four points and did not look back.
Lentz had a kill and a block for another to start the second game for St. Henry. The Crusaders built a 6-1 lead in that one. Beechwood trimmed the lead to 19-16 before St. Henry pulled away.
“Our goal is to mix it up so your defense isn’t set,” Kaiser said. “It all starts with the pass. Nobody sees that. Elizabeth Tabeling controls that back court very well and gets the ball to our setters so that we can run a complex offense. We’ve got a lot of athletic girls. They’re not just volleyball players and can work the shots in.”
The third game saw St. Henry go up 2-0 when Leonard landed an ace. But Beechwood came back to take a 3-2 lead when Rolf had an ace. St. Henry scored the next 11 points, however, to pull away.
The Crusaders worked in some younger players such as junior Mia Ryan and freshman Madi Demler.
Beechwood has three freshmen and an eighth grader in the rotation. With wins over two 9th Region Tournament qualifiers last year in Highlands and Dixie Heights, the girls seem bought in to the philosophies of the coaching staff.
“I think they respond well to me as a coach, which is great,” Smith said. “I’ve been coaching for 11 year so having this team is fun. It’s a good time.”
Beechwood travels to Notre Dame (3-1) on Thursday at 7 p.m. St. Henry plays host to Scott (8-0) on Tuesday at 7:30 p.m.
Notre Dame 3, Simon Kenton 0
The Pandas (3-1) knocked off the Pioneers (0-5) in three straight games by 25-7, 27-25, 25-7 scores.
Senior Kamden Schrand led Notre Dame with 15 digs with sophomore Lauren Ott and freshman Lizzy Larkins recording 21 and 12 assists respectively. Senior Jada Kramer and sophomore Julia Grace had three aces each.
Notre Dame spread things out with kills. Freshman Audrey Dyas had 10 and sophomore Ava Tilden recorded nine. Sophomore Riley McCloskey had seven with senior University of New Haven (Connecticut) commit Peyton Mast and senior North Carolina commit Sydney Nolan recording six and five respectively.
“Simon Kenton really kept us on our toes,” Mast said. “Our defense looked good and so did our offense. We play a really fast offense. Our serving was good. We just need to keep going.”
The Pioneers battled the Pandas in the second game continuing their tough schedule. Junior Alisha Hawkins had four kills and two blocks with sophomore Keira Hans tallying four kills and seven digs. Sophomore defensive specialist Tori Chasteen recorded seven digs and two aces.
“We definitely were complimentary of Simon Kenton,” said Leslie Litmer, Notre Dame Head Coach. “The Pioneers have much risen their level of volleyball. That forces us to stay on it. They’re always competitive. There are a number of good teams in Northern Kentucky, Louisville and Lexington. Our girls play a lot of club volleyball with these girls so they’re surrounded by good players, which is good in the end.”
Notre Dame plays host to Beechwood (2-2) on Thursday at 7 p.m. Simon Kenton plays host to Conner (3-0) on Aug. 31 at 7 p.m.
Dixie Heights 2, Ludlow 0
The Colonels (1-3) took down the Panthers (4-3) in 34th District action.
Senior Maia Long led Dixie Heights with 12 kills and junior Christen Tarter had 14 digs. Freshman Maddie Kelly had 11 assists, four aces and seven digs playing in place of injured freshman setter Riley Byrne.
Dixie Heights plays at Lloyd Memorial (3-4) on Thursday at 7 p.m. Ludlow plays at Bishop Brossart (3-1) on Thursday at the same time.
Bishop Brossart 2, Bracken County 0
The Lady ‘Stangs (3-1) opened the All “A” 10th Region Tournament with a sound road victory over the Lady Bears (1-8). They play Nicholas County (2-2) in the tournament semifinals at 11 a.m. on Saturday at Robertson County.
The Lady ‘Stangs had 20 kills, two blocks, 15 assists, 22 digs and 10 aces. Sophomore outside hitter Kate Neltner had five kills, eight digs and five aces to lead Bishop Brossart. Senior setter Savannah Seiter had 10 assists with sophomore 6-3 middle blocker Corinne Blackburn recording a team-high six kills. Junior libero Maddie Kremer had two assists, three digs and three aces.
Bishop Brossart plays host to Ludlow (4-3) on Thursday at 7 p.m.
Other Volleyball Scores:
Newport Central Catholic 3 (25-17, 25-13, 25-14), Dayton 0
Holy Cross 2 (25-5, 25-13), Holmes 0
Villa Madonna 3 (25-12, 25-13, 25-8), Walton-Verona 0
Boys soccer
Walton-Verona 2, Carroll County 1
The Bearcats (2-3-2) downed the host Panthers in an All “A” 8th Region semifinal game. Walton-Verona faces Gallatin County (1-4) in the title game back at Walton-Verona at 6 p.m. back at Carroll County.
Senior Mateo Mains and sophomore Alihan Ceylan scored the Walton-Verona goals. Senior Arif Ceylan and junior Tyler Wolfe had the assists. Junior Sam Kunkle had 10 saves for the Bearcats.
Girls soccer
Highlands 3, St. Henry 0
The Bluebirds (2-3-1) ventured to Crusader Stadium playing on the newly-installed turf and left with a crucial win over the Crusaders (5-1) to snap a four-game winless streak.
Highlands tied Conner during that run and lost to South Oldham, Assumption and Sacred Heart from the Louisville area – all at Tower Park.
“Those three are really, really good,” said Chris Norris, Highlands head coach. “I thought that it gave us good exposure to what the state tournament is going to look like at the end of the season. Now we’re trying to take that education and bring it back to Northern Kentucky and show what we’re really made of.”
Highlands had 16 shots on goal to three for St. Henry. Freshman goalkeeper Natalie Hinegardner stopped all three shots on frame for the Bluebirds. Highlands also had six corner kicks to one for St. Henry.
Hinegardner is one of several freshmen that is making the transition to varsity this year. She has role models such as her older sister, current Hanover College (Indiana) goalkeeper and 2020 Highlands graduate Maggie Hinegardner, who helped Highlands to state runner-up finishes in 2018 and 2019.
“I feel like as a freshman, it’s about asking for help when needed,” Natalie Hinegardner said. “I know if I make a mistake, it’s okay even if I’m a goalie. Getting help from upperclassmen really helped us with the speed and also practicing with them was also a key point to help us get there.”
The Bluebirds might have scored more goals if not for the play of the two St. Henry goalkeepers. Junior Avery Collins had eight saves in the first half and senior Ella Thompson saved five in the second half.
Junior forward Laney Smith spun at the top of the attack zone and scored her seventh goal of the season with 26:45 left in the first half to put Highlands up 1-0 for the lone goal the Bluebirds ultimately needed to win the game. Junior Kate Jamie had an assist on the play.
“It felt really good. We were in kind of a drought with scoring and I think it was great to break the seal and get some goals for other people as well,” Smith said. “It was very good to accomplish that as a team again. I think we’re going to hit the ground running now.”
But junior Ava Meyer made a nice cross from the let side and found senior Anna Melson for her first goal of the season to put Highlands up 2-0 with 23:32 left in the first half.
“It’s nice to come here and dominate a quality team,” Norris said. “I thought we possessed very well. We connected 141 passes. These are all good things that I thought we were pseudo-successful against the Louisville teams. To come out and do that against a team that’s been rolling through Northern Kentucky says a lot about our resolve for the rest of the season.”
The Bluebirds had a number of shots in the second half. But the only one they put home came with 24:32 left in the game. Junior Lindsay Stein found junior Claire Cavacini for her first goal of the season to make the final score.
“Highlands is a really good program,” said Brian Bamberger. St. Henry head coach. “Their record doesn’t really tell you how good they are because the competition they’ve played has been incredible. They’re just a really quick, fast, well-coached, technical, tactical team that you better come prepared.”
The game featured physical play. The Crusaders had 13 fouls to nine for the Bluebirds. Highlands had one yellow card and St. Henry received a red card leaving the Crusaders down one player for a good part of the second half.
St. Henry played without senior midfield and Ohio State commit Mandy Schlueter. Schlueter stood with the team while nursing an injury. She leads the Crusaders with 14 goals and four assists. Bamberger said all the Crusaders can do with injuries is apply the “Next Player Up” mentality.
Highlands plays at East Central (Indiana) on Saturday at 7 p.m. St. Henry plays host to Louisville DuPont Manual (5-1-1) on Saturday at 11:30 a.m.
Notre Dame 3, West Jessamine
The Pandas (5-1) rebounded after a home loss to South Oldham to knock off the Colts (1-5). Senior Ellie Greenwell, Ava Summe and sophomore Riley Robertson scored the goals for the Pandas.
Notre Dame plays at Assumption (6-0) on Saturday. Game time is 11:30 a.m.
Simon Kenton 6, Scott 0
The host Pioneers (6-1-2) won their fifth in a row knocking off the Eagles (1-3-1) in the Presidents Cup.
Junior Cam Ruble had two goals and one assist to lead Simon Kenton. Senior Decker had one goal and one assist with freshman Ella Smith, senior Margo Roberts and senior Abby Dempsey scoring one goal each. Freshmen Meg Gadzala and Nyia Johnson added assists. Goalkeeper Olivia York had one save for the Pioneers.
The Eagles have lost three in a row. Senior goalkeeper Gabriella Cox made eight saves for Scott.
Simon Kenton travels to Beechwood (4-2) on Monday for a 7:30 p.m. game. Scott travels to Calvary Christian (1-2) for a 5 p.m. game.
Other Girls Soccer Scores:
Beechwood 3, Ryle 1
Conner 9, Boone County 1
Covington Latin 5, Bellevue 0
Cooper 4, Newport Central Catholic 1
Villa Madonna 4, Mason County 1
Holy Cross 8, Ludlow 0
Walton-Verona 10, Owen County 0
