The Beechwood Tigers volleyball team is off to a good start in Matt Long’s second tenure as head coach.
The Tigers (4-2) recorded a 3-1 (25-14, 25-12, 20-25, 25-13) victory over the Newport Central Catholic Thoroughbreds. Their only two losses have come to 9th Region powers Notre Dame and St. Henry.
“(NewCath) was very scrappy. They picked up a lot of our attacks,” Long said. “We were hitting the balls right at them and they were digging them up. We need to work on placing our balls in different spots. But NCC played great defense.”
Beechwood had 42 kills, 16 aces, 43 digs, 10 blocks and 36 assists in the win. Isabel O’Brien led the way with nine kills, eight aces and eight digs. Maggie Dawson had 20 digs with Skylr Estep tallying 36 assists. Four other hitters had five or more kills.
“We started off a little rocky. We didn’t have much experience playing with each other considering most of our team is based off younger girls,” O’Brien said. “We had to relearn playing with one another. We set goals for ourselves and together as a team. We’ve really narrowed down the skills we’ve been working on. It’s really coming together.”
NewCath (1-7) had eight aces, 23 kills, 21 assists and 66 digs in the loss. Kori Reckers had 15 digs and 13 kills to lead the Thoroughbreds. Paytin Reckers had a team-high 19 digs and Jordyn Reckers had 12. Vivi Fassler had six assists.
NewCath honored Kori Reckers for recording her 1,000th career dig in the loss at Oldenburg Academy (Indiana) on Saturday. Reckers had 25 digs in that loss.
Beechwood plays at Villa Madonna (8-3) in the All “A” 9th Region Tournament on Wednesday at 6 p.m. NewCath hosts to Ludlow (6-8) at the same time.
Volleyball
Notre Dame 3, Elizabethtown 0 (25-20, 25-16, 25-15)
The Pandas stayed undefeated with a home win over the defending 5th Region champions.
“They have a bunch of hard workers and really offensively, they have a lot of different weapons that forced us to stay committed to communicating who we had across the net at different times,” said Leslie Litmer, Notre Dame co-coach. “That was a big challenge and a good challenge for our block because we did have some people in different positions due to different reasons.”
Notre Dame (7-0) had 26 kills, six blocks, 28 assists, 24 digs and 11 aces in the win. Lauren Ott led the Pandas with five aces and 24 assists. Lacey Hostetler and Grace Portwood dug up 11 and seven balls respectively. Audrey Dyas had five kills and three blocks. Portwood added a team-high 10 kills and Ella Goetz added two blocks.
“I think we all play really well together,” said Riley McCloskey, Notre Dame junior. “When we have that energy, we feed off each other. I think the fun thing is playing with so many people that want to win and have that competitive edge.”
Notre Dame plays host to Louisville Mercy (7-4) on Thursday at 7:30 p.m.
Conner 3, Dixie Heights 0 (25-20, 25-12, 25-13)
The Cougars took care of the Colonels in a road 9th Region battle.
Conner (10-1) had 31 kills, eight blocks, 30 assists, 32 digs and 15 aces in the win. Lilly Hamburg led the Cougars with 10 kills and three blocks. Peyton Walker and Carly Nehus followed with six and seven kills respectively with Annika Berwanger recording two blocks.
Aubrey Depenbrock had 13 assists, six digs and five aces and Maddie Leiprecht had four aces. Anna Hamilton led Conner with nine digs to go with four assists. Jordan Ransdell added seven assists.
Conner plays at Ryle (3-4) on Thursday at 7 p.m. Dixie Heights (6-3) travels to Campbell County (1-4) at the same time.
Cooper 3, Campbell County 1 (25-22, 25-14, 22-25, 25-22)
The Jaguars won the home game against the Camels in non-region action.
“We’ve been working a lot on playing as a team, talking and not giving up on the ball,” said Michelle Isaac, Cooper head coach. “When one would struggle, somebody else would step up and put the ball in play. Our serving was aggressive. We probably looked better than we have all year. It’s trusting each other more.”
Audrey Schilling led Cooper (3-5) with 20 kills, 27 digs and four aces and Sadie Smith had 34 assists and 28 digs. Addy Warth had 26 digs and Violet Birtcil had 18. Morgan Brown had 13 kills and Carly Schroder had 10. Dani Depenbrock added five blocks and four kills with Jill Puckett recording four digs and four kills.
“I think we played an aggressive and competitive edge,” Schilling said. “Our desire to win as a young and inexperienced group drives us to prove a point to other teams counting us out like, ‘Oh, they’re not going to make it.’ Our desire to prove others wrong gives us a fiery edge.”
Cooper plays host to Boone County (4-5) on Sept. 6 at 7 p.m. Campbell County (1-4) plays host to Dixie Heights (6-3) on Thursday at 7 p.m.
Ryle 3, Boone County 0 (25-11, 25-18, 25-15)
The Raiders won the 33rd District seed game on the road in straight sets.
Ryle (3-4) had six aces, 30 kills, 58 digs and 27 assists in the win. Karsyn Griffin had 10 assists and two aces. Lucy Trapp had 14 digs and seven kills. Morgan Heater had a team-high 13 assists. Olivia Karlosky had 11 digs with Abby Lester tallying seven kills and Clara Hansel two aces.
Ryle plays host to Conner (10-1) on Thursday at 7 p.m. Boone County (4-5) takes on Beechwood (4-2) and Campbell County (1-4) at 5 and 7 p.m. on Friday in the September Slam at Scott.
Walton-Verona 3, Pendleton County 0 (26-24, 25-11, 25-18)
The Bearcats downed the Wildcats in non-region action for their fourth straight win.
Walton-Verona (6-3) had 24 kills, five blocks, 24 assists, 60 digs and 11 aces in the win. Bella O’Brien had 15 digs, 11 kills and three aces to lead the way with Macie Godwin recording 19 digs and three aces.
The Bearcats play host to Holmes (1-6) on Wednesday at 7 p.m.
Other Volleyball Scores
Bellevue 2, Dayton 1 (20-25, 25-20, 25-23)
Ludlow 2, Heritage Academy 0 (25-12, 25-13)
Villa Madonna 2, Calvary Christian 0 (25-16, 25-15)
Boys Soccer
Bishop Brossart 2, Cooper 1
The Mustangs took down the visiting Jaguars in a tight non-region game.
Brossart outshot Cooper, 10-5. Max Runge and Tyler Smith had the goals for the Mustangs (5-2-3) with Alex Runge and Luke Alwell recording the assists. Goalkeeper Michael Cooney had two assists.
“I felt we largely dominated this one. We just weren’t able to find the back of the net,” said Ron Dunlevy, Brossart head coach. “Because soccer is a funny old game, they went down, got a goal on us and put us on our back heel. Kudos to my guys though. It took them a minute or two. But they got themselves righted and made some adjustments to how they were playing. Those adjustments paid off. We were able to level then shortly afterwards, we were able to take the lead. It was real mature from my guys.”
Jackson McDonald had the goal for the Jaguars (2-3-2) and Maddox Pemberton had the assist. Pemberton has a team-high seven goals this year.
Brossart plays Paris (1-4) in the All “A” 10th Region on Saturday at 1 p.m. Cooper plays host to Covington Catholic (5-4-1) on Thursday at 8 p.m.
Newport Central Catholic 1, St. Henry 0
The Thoroughbreds took down the Crusaders in a 9th Region battle.
Vinny Petroze scored the game’s lone goal for his fifth goal of the year for the Thoroughbreds (8-1). Goalkeeper Mason McCloskey helped NewCath record its fifth shutout of the season.
NewCath plays at Conner (3-3-1) on Thursday at 7:30 p.m. St. Henry (1-7) plays at Ryle (5-2) on Sept. 5 at 8 p.m.
Beechwood 3, Villa Madonna 1
Eli Muck, Gavin Warren and Breaden Trejo found the back of the net for the Tigers in their victory over the Vikings.
Isaac Popham, Reece Bell and Isaac Cardosi assisted on the three goals as Beechwood (3-3) won their third out of their last four games. Warner Platt had 10 saves in net.
Ethan Mai scored the lone goal for Villa Madonna (2-2-3), Michael Callioni with the assist.
Beechwood hosts Simon Kenton on Thursday at 8 p.m., Villa Madonna plays at Dixie Heights also on Thursday.
Scott 2, Holmes 0
Brayden Profitt and Ethan Rogers notched goals while Aiden Taylor made three saves in net for the clean sheet.
Rogers and Taylor added assists for Scott (3-5). The Eagles have shut the opponent out in all three of their victories.
They’ll host Campbell County in a 37th District showdown on Thursday at 7:30 p.m. Holmes (2-5) hosts Boone County on Thursday at 7:30 p.m.
Holy Cross 3, Pendleton County 1
The Indians scored two second half goals to break a 1-1 tie in a road victory over the Wildcats.
William Fisk, Will Schaffeld and Nico Voight scored the goals for Holy Cross (4-3-1), Voight, Gavin Saalfeld and Gabriel Reed with the assists. Keeper Wyatt Driscoll made five saves.
Holy Cross returns to action Thursday at Ryle at 7:30 p.m.
Grant County 4, Boone County 1
The Rebels couldn’t keep the momentum going in a road loss at Grant County Tuesday after winning three of their last four.
Denis Rodriguez had the goal for Boone County (3-5), Abdullahi Ali with the assist. David Courtney made four saves, Thierno Balde with one.
Boone County plays at Holmes on Thursday at 7:30 p.m.
Other Boys Soccer Scores
Campbell County 4, Bourbon County 0
Conner 3, Lawrenceburg (Indiana) 0