Whenever the Notre Dame Pandas take the court, the defending state champions put a lot of little things together for one big performance.
Notre Dame’s latest display of that Tradition of Dominance came at Thomas More University’s Connor Convocation Center on Senior Night on Thursday in a 3-0 (25-9, 25-19, 25-16) win over the Ryle Raiders that moved the Pandas to 10-0 in 9th Region play.
The Pandas celebrated their lone senior in Ava Erpenbeck in addition to senior manager Brooke Inyart before the game. Erpenbeck contributed to the win with seven kills and one dig.
“It’s just so fun. Everyone gets it up really well,” Erpenbeck said. “We just have a team that works together and it makes an awesome team. All of our hitters want the best for everybody. Everyone works so hard. Everyone is proud of everyone on every point.”
Notre Dame (25-3) used its size and versatility to beat the Raiders, once again making an opponent defend every square inch of the court. The Pandas pounded out 40 kills and 37 assists. Ryle could not stop junior Ava Tilden on the outside. Tilden put down 11 kills and served five of the team’s six aces, including four in the first game to put Notre Dame up 6-0.
“Coming off of (the) Chicago (trip), we really focused on first contact and serving aggressive,” said Jenna Leistner, Notre Dame co-head coach. “We did that just that to start the match off. So having that momentum to start the match helped us a lot.”
A number of other hitters added to the attack. Riley McCloskey had seven kills with Gracie Portwood and Audrey Dyas recording six each. Ella Goetz had three kills and Dyas had both Notre Dame blocks.
The hustle plays defensively started the smooth Notre Dame offensive rhythm. Julia Grace dug up 19 balls and Lacey Hostetler had five.
Then the Notre Dame setters did their thing. Lizzy Larkins had 21 assists and Lauren Ott had 12. Grace assisted four kills.
“I think we did a good job facing those great players on the other side,” Larkins said. “We all have to come together to come up with a plan to score points. But I think we did a really good job of that.”
Ryle (18-11) did recover to cut the Notre Dame lead to 8-6 in the first game. But the Pandas ran off 13 straight to go up 21-6 before a wide serve ended it. Goetz ended the set with a kill.
Ryle recovered a bit in the second set. Senior Kiana Dinn led the charge with 10 assists and eight kills. Alexis Woolf had 10 digs and Morgan Heather dished out 11 assists as Ryle had 24 kills, three aces, 27 digs, 21 assists and one combined block from Heater and Merisa Workman.
“Do I like the 25-9? No. But they didn’t let it go into the next two games,” said Tasha Lovins, Ryle head coach. “There was some fight in the next two games. The scores were tighter. We overcame it and didn’t drag it with us.”
The second game saw a close one with five ties. But Erpenbeck gave Notre Dame the lead for good at 8-7 with a kill. The Pandas ran off seven straight to go up 16-9. The Pandas extended the lead to eight. But Ryle made things interesting before Tilden finished it with a kill.
The third game did not see Notre Dame go on any run similar to the first two games. But the Pandas did sprinkle in two points throughout the set to slowly pull away.
“Ryle is a great team with great players. They challenged us and made our defense get to work,” Leistner said. “It just goes to show how strong the 9th Region is and how it’s always a fight and a battle to get out. Whoever is the lucky one to get out, it helps to play teams within the region to make us better when they get to the state tournament.”
Lovins took over the Ryle program in 2002. The Pandas moved to 32-1 against the Raiders during her tenure. But aside from St. Henry’s 14 wins against the Pandas during that time, Ryle and Newport Central Catholic are the only two teams from Kentucky’s northern three counties to have beaten Notre Dame, per the Kentucky High School Athletic Association website.
“With the 22 years I’ve been coaching, that is one of the strongest Notre Dame teams that I’ve seen,” Lovins said. “They’re an all-around solid team – not a lot of weak spots. The game going in was to play strong, serve receive, do what we needed to do. We did at times and we didn’t at times. But Notre Dame is a good team.”
Notre Dame plays at Ursuline Academy (Ohio) on Tuesday at 6:30 p.m. Ryle travels to South Oldham at the same time.