Ava Tilden took the season’s final swing sending it screaming to the open back row on the other side.
That set off a big celebration as the Notre Dame Pandas (34-5 overall) won their 10th Kentucky High School Athletic Association volleyball tournament crown with a 3-0 (25-22, 25-11, 25-16) win over the Lexington Dunbar Bulldogs (33-11) at George Rogers Clark’s Letcher Norton Gym on Friday.
The Notre Dame Pandas came into the state volleyball tournament finishing the regular season 21-1 against Kentucky teams, winning 20 in a row after dropping the second game of the season against Sacred Heart.
Notre Dame faced Assumption in the semifinals earlier on Friday. The Louisville power has 22 state titles to its history, the only program with more than Notre Dame. The Pandas knocked off the Rockets twice during the regular season but Notre Dame had not beaten Assumption in the state tournament since the 1994 state semifinals.
The Pandas came through with a 3-2 (25-15, 22-25, 21-25, 25-22, 15-7) victory. That ended a run of 10 straight Assumption state tournament wins in the series including the 1996, 1998, 2000, 2002, 2007, and 2013 state championship games.
Notre Dame had 67 kills minus 19 errors on 176 attempts for a .273 hitting percentage to go with 62 assists, 94 digs, one solo and 12 assisted blocks. Senior libero Kamden Schrand again dazzled with 32 digs once again allowing the Pandas to run that fast-paced offense.
“I think it maybe started when I got to high school,” Schrand said. “Something just clicks at a certain point where you don’t really care. You just go for everything. It’s the competitive nature inside you.”
Senior defensive specialist Kayla Hostetler dug up 18 balls and sophomore Julia Grace had 14 following Schrand. Sophomore setter Lauren Ott had 31 assists and 13 digs. Freshman setter Lizzy Larkins added 25 assists.
“Even before the game, I told my friend it was really good that we played them twice already just so that we have a feel for them on what they do and then we watched film on them this morning just to get a better idea of what they were going to come into,” Hostetler said. “That especially helped us with the line shots because we knew they were going to come out hitting line a lot.”
Then the Pandas put the ball down. Senior hitter and the tournament’s most valuable player Sydney Nolan had 25 kills minus two errors on 57 attempts for a .404 hitting percentage. Tilden had 15 kills minus two errors on 36 tries for a .361 percentage with senior 6-0 lefty Peyton Mast recording 14 kills minus five errors on 35 attempts for a .257 percentage.
“You have to keep her off the net,” said Ron Kordes, Assumption head coach of Nolan. “If you make her hit the ball 10-12 feet off the net, she’s not quite as dangerous. But if you let her hit at the net, she’s coming over the top of us and there’s not much you can do about that. We couldn’t get a ball down on their libero (Schrand). She wouldn’t let anything down and not just her. I thought their defense was good.”
The fifth game stayed close at first. Tied 6-6, Tilden and Nolan recorded consecutive kills forcing Assumption to call a timeout. The Rockets called another one two points later. But the Pandas ran off seven in a row to go up 13-6 after a Goetz kill. Nolan recorded consecutive kills to end the match after a Gerry kill stopped the Notre Dame run.
“Our team this year is very special,” said Jenna Leistner, Notre Dame associate head coach. “I knew after we lost that third game that the game wasn’t over. Our team has so much heart and so much grit. They really love each other. They play for each other. It was awesome to seem them come together, play for the person to the right, play for the person on their left. They just went after it and put every ounce out there on the court. I’m speechless. It was such a special moment for the team.”
Notre Dame only had a few hours to regroup and refocus after beating Assumption. The Pandas did not have the easiest time in the first game against Dunbar, which made its first appearance in a state championship game. But the Notre Dame size, fast-paced play and depth ultimately overwhelmed the Bulldogs.
“We couldn’t leave the gym. Our parents were amazing. They went out and got Jimmy John’s,” Leistner said. “The girls were allowed to relax for an hour then we went back to it. It was a little bit of a slow start in that first game. But I knew they would come together and just did a great game.”
The Pandas finished with 54 kills minus 10 errors on 108 attempts for a .407 hitting percentage, compared to 35 kills minus 11 errors on 103 attempts for a .233 hitting percentage. Notre Dame also had 51 assists, six aces, 51 digs, two solo and six assisted blocks compared to 34 assists, one ace, 40 digs, one solo and six assisted blocks.
Schrand had 19 digs and Hostetler eight to conclude their careers. Nolan led the Pandas with 19 kills and Mast had 11. Tilden finished with eight and Nolan added two assisted blocks with freshman Audrey Dyas making one solo and two assisted blocks. McCloskey added seven kills and Goetz five to go with three aces. Ott and Larkins put up 23 assists each.
Nolan, Schrand, Hostetler and Mast played on the 2020 state championship team two years ago. That team beat West Jessamine in the afternoon before knocking off Mercy, 3-2 in the title game.
“It was hard to get ready because we were all so tired from giving it our all (against Assumption),” Nolan said. “But we were able to pull it together to get the win so we’re super excited about that. Two years ago, we knew what we had to do. We did the same thing this year.”
Dunbar did not have the size to match up with Notre Dame’s five players standing 6-ft. and above. Senior outside hitter Ava Jackson is Dunbar’s tallest player at 5-11. Jackson and senior middle blocker Nyla Gains had 10 kills each to lead the Bulldogs and junior libero Mia Telechbush had 17 digs.
“Dunbar’s Jackson and (junior outside hitter) Delaney Gash are great outside hitters,” Leistner said. “We had to switch out defense for them multiple times. Kudos to both of them.”
Notre Dame graduates five seniors in Schrand, Nolan, Hostetler, Mast and defensive specialist Jada Kramer. But the Pandas return their two setters in addition to the likes of McCloskey, Dyas, Goetz and Tilden in the front row along with sophomore defensive specialist Julia Grace. Schrand and Mast made the all-tournament team.
This marked the fifth time Notre Dame has faced Dunbar since 2014 winning all five meetings. The Pandas beat the Bulldogs, 3-0 (25-10, 25-10, 25-14) in the state semifinals that year on their way to a state runner-up finish to Mercy.
