The Notre Dame Pandas (4-2 overall) may not have earned the desired result in the 3-0 (25-19, 25-20, 25-22) loss to the Cincinnati Mercy McAuley Wolves (2-0) from the Girls Greater Catholic League on Saturday, but the host Pandas left knowing the loss will benefit them better in the long run.
Notre Dame made Mercy earn things putting up 30 kills, 23 assists, 44 digs, eight blocks and three aces unofficially. But the Wolves had the size, depth and strength to match the Pandas putting up 43 kills, 40 assists, 51 digs, 10 blocks and four aces.
“Mercy McAuley is a battle every year,” said Jenna Leistner, Notre Dame associate head coach. “That’s why we schedule the Greater Cincinnati teams. They’re just phenomenal teams and they make us better playing against them.”
Notre Dame senior outside hitter Sydney Nolan had 10 kills and sophomore Riley McCloskey had six. Senior libero Kamden Schrand had 12 digs trying to keep the Pandas in system with sophomore setter Lauren Ott tallying 12 assists and freshman Lizzy Larkins making 10.
“I know Mercy McAuley looked at her knowing (Nolan) was the number one hitter,” Leistner said. “So it’s getting everyone else involved when she’s our hot hitter to take pressure off her. But we also move her around a bit so she can get an open net at times to have more availability.”
Junior Maria Drapp had 37 assists for Mercy McAuley. Junior Ruby Klusman led the Wolves with 20 digs and Dapp had 14 digs.
Notre Dame travels to Conner (6-3) on Monday. Game time is 7 p.m.
Volleyball scores
Bishop Brossart wins 10th Region All “A” crown:
The Lady ‘Stangs (6-1) won their fourth straight All “A” 10th Region crown under head coach Bree Velasquez’s guidance Saturday. Brossart has won that tournament every year since it started in 2009, except 2018 when Calvary Christian won it.
“I feel like our team actually plays better in the first two games,” Velasquez said. “I don’t know if we just warm up well and start off strong. We’ve only played two three out of fives. It’s the middle game our team struggles with. We played good all-around volleyball in both games so I was really happy with the way we played.”
Bishop Brossart beat Nicholas County (2-4), 2-0 (25-13, 25-15) in the semifinals to advance to the title game. The Lady ‘Stangs had 23 kills, six blocks, 14 assists, 24 digs and eight aces.
Sophomore middle blocker Corrine Blackburn led Brossart with 10 kills, two blocks and four aces. Junior middle blocker Payton Parker had four kills and three blocks. Junior defensive specialist Maddie Kremer had six digs and senior setter Savannah Seiter had eight assists. Senior Ava Thomas had three kills and three digs.
“I’m just going to go with my hitters. It’s easy for me to set them and they put the ball down because there’s that level of trust we have and that certain connection,” Seiter said. “We’ve been working on it since the pre-season and all throughout the beginning of the season. We just know. If my set’s a little off, they learn to adjust.”
Brossart then beat 37th District rival Calvary Christian, 2-0 (25-13, 25-15). The Lady ‘Stangs had 23 kills, three blocks, 18 assists, 27 digs and six aces. Kremer had four digs and four aces. Seiter had 13 assists and seven digs with Blackburn recording six kills, four digs and two aces. Sophomore outside hitter Kate Neltner had five kills, two assists and three digs.
“On serve receive, we struggled a bit in the beginning,” Kremer said. “Once we warmed up, they started going more toward the target. We took the same approach (in the championship) in every game. We don’t really worry about who’s on the other side of the net. We’re more focused on what we’re doing – getting the passes and getting the ball down.”
Calvary Christian beat Robertson County, 2-0 (25-19, 25-20) in the other semifinal game. The Lady Cougars had 18 kills, 16 assists, 33 digs and 13 aces. Calvary had 18 kills, 16 assists, 33 digs and 13 aces.
Freshman Anna Hickey had nine kills and eight aces and sophomore Reagan Brummett had five kills to lead Calvary Christian. Junior Savannah Ryan had 13 assists and junior Isabella Mulling had 12 digs.
Calvary Christian plays host to Newport Central Catholic (2-4) at 7 p.m.
Other volleyball scores:
Cooper 2 (25-18, 25-23), Lafayette 0
Cooper 2 (25-19, 25-14), Tates Creek 0
Collins 2 (25-21, 25-21), Cooper 0
West Jessamine 2 (25-15, 25-13), Conner 0
Boyd County 2 (25-19, 25-23), Conner 0
Ryle 3 (25-21, 25-22, 28-26), Elizabethtown 0
North Oldham 3 (18-25, 25-22, 25-16, 25-18), Ryle 1
South Oldham 3 (25-11, 21-25, 25-16, 25-11), Newport Central Catholic 1
Boys soccer
Newport Central Catholic 3, St. Henry 2
The Thoroughbreds (7-0-1) have turned many heads this season and it culminated with its first 9th Region All “A” title since 2018 edging the Crusaders (2-4) at Holy Cross on Saturday.
NewCath has outscored opponents, 29-5 on the season. They’ve not allowed more than two goals in a game.
“We focused on defense this year,” said Ben Williams, NewCath head coach. “We’ve given up way too many goals the past three years and everyone has been pretty good about buying in to being good defenders. I know we gave up two. But just the determination and the attitude to win the ball back has been so much better. We’ve had really good chemistry this year not just with our seniors, but throughout the entire program. It’s something we’ve been working on throughout the past three years.”
Senior midfielder Ryan Barth and junior midfielders Mason McCloskey and Owen Roeder had the goals for NewCath. Senior midfielder Tommy Krallman and junior midfielder Ryan Desmond had the assists.
“Our start says it all,” said James Doepker, NewCath senior defender. “It’s been a great season. We’re a really strong team and I think we can do a lot this year. We try to improve on the mistakes we made and don’t make the same mistakes again. We also strive to out-condition the other teams.”
Seven different Thoroughbreds have goals and 12 have at least one assist. Desmond has a team-high 10 goals to go with three assists with Roeder and Barth leading NewCath with five assists each.
“We had at least three or four seniors go to workouts every single day since the winter time,” Barth said. “I think the guys want to work when they see us there, too. We set the tone.”
Seniors Matt Resing and Kyle Ziegelmeyer had the St. Henry goals. Freshman Thomas Thoss had assists. Resing leads the Crusaders with five goals.
Both teams return to action Tuesday. NewCath plays host to Boone County (2-4) at 5:30 p.m. and St. Henry travels to Ryle (2-2-2) for a 6:30 p.m. game.
Bishop Brossart 2, Scott 0
The Mustangs (2-3-2) took down the Eagles (2-4-1) in an important 37th District seed game. Brossart is 1-0 in district seed play and Scott is 1-1.
Head Coach Ron Dunlevy said the Mustangs had probably 12 shots in the first half. The Mustangs had to make some adjustments up top and in front of the defense because of injuries and they worked out in favor of Brossart. Senior Lucas Steffen had five saves at goalkeeper for Brossart and Scott junior Aiden Taylor had nine.
Scott has one of the more dynamic scorers in the area in senior forward Carlos Marshall. Marshall has five goals on the season.
“We were aware of him obviously. But we didn’t have a specific plan beyond what we normally play,” Dunlevy said. “He did have some good plays in the first half. But frankly, I don’t think he was a factor at all in the second half. We locked it away keeping the ball in their half.”
Junior Tyler Smith had both goals including one on a penalty kick and junior Brennan Callahan had the assist. Smith has four goals on the year and Callahan has two assists.
“We’re coming together as a team,” Smith said. “It’s taken everyone a couple games to get their feet wet and get going on the highest stage in the varsity level. All the younger players are starting to gel. We’re starting to figure out how each other plays. We’re just becoming a team.”
Brossart plays host to Holy Cross (4-2) on Tuesday at 7:30 p.m. Scott plays host to George Rogers Clark (4-2) at 8 p.m. on Tuesday.
Other boys soccer scores:
Conner 1, Campbell County 0
Walton-Verona 4, Bullitt Central 4
Ryle 2, Cincinnati (Ohio) Elder 0
Gallatin County 9, Calvary Christian 2
Henry County 7, Holmes 2
Simon Kenton 4, Spencer County 1
St. Xavier 3, Covington Catholic 0
Model 2, Villa Madonna 0
Girls soccer scores:
Notre Dame 0, Assumption 0
Beechwood 2, Holy Cross 0
Bluegrass United (Kentucky) Home School 7, Villa Madonna 1
East Central (Indiana) 5, Highlands 1
Conner 5, Memphis (Tennessee) St. Mary’s Episcopal 1
Conner 2, Barlett (Tennessee) 0
West Knoxville (Tennessee) 2, Conner 1
Dixie Heights 0, Station Camp (Tennessee) 0
Dixie Heights 1, Father Ryan (Tennessee) 1
Cooper 1, Arlington (Tennessee) 1
Franklin (Tennessee) Page 3, Cooper 0
Liberty Creek (Tennessee) 1, Boone County 0
Greenbrier (Tennesse) 3, Calvary Christian 0
Ludlow 5, Holmes 0
Villa Madonna 3, Louisville Holy Cross 0
Bishop Brossart 3, Montgomery County 0
Campbell County 1, Ryle 1
DuPont Manual 1, St. Henry 1
Walton-Verona 1, Woodford County 1