Notre Dame routinely dominates opponents in the 9th Region volleyball tournament.
That continued that Sunday in a sound 3-0 (25-8, 25-17, 25-10) win over Dixie Heights in the quarterfinals at Cooper High School.
The coaching staff continues to remind the Pandas of the next game mentality for a huge reason.
“That’s a conversation we have every week is we can’t take anybody for granted when we look across the net because there are a lot of good players that develop into really good teams throughout the season,” said Leslie Litmer, Notre Dame co-head coach. “You see it happen every time in postseason. It’s a matter of who comes out that day, that night and everybody comes out in this postseason, especially in this tournament, and works hard.”
Notre Dame (28-5) finished with 29 digs, two blocks, nine aces, 35 assists and 39 kills. Lauren Ott had 19 assists, six digs and three aces and Julia Grace had six digs and three aces. Riley McCloskey led Notre Dame with 14 kills, Ava Tilden with eight to go with five digs and two aces. Lizzy Larkins added 10 assists and Audrey Dyas had eight kills.
“We knew it was a tough draw. We’re in a super tough region,” said Julie Kelly, Dixie Heights head coach. “They’re Notre Dame, so they’re going to get a lot of big kills. When that happens, you just kind of applaud them and move on to the next play. We talk about that a lot.”
Dixie Heights (11-16) had 33 digs, 17 assists, 17 kills, one ace and one block. Christen Tarter led Dixie Heights with 15 digs and Maggie Best had 11 kills in the final game of their careers. Sophomore setter Maddie Kelly finished with 17 assists.
Notre Dame dominated the first game. But Dixie Heights made things interesting in the second game. The Colonels scored the game’s first three points and built a 6-2 lead. But Notre Dame came back to tie it. Tied at 12, Notre Dame scored five straight to take the lead for good at 17-12. Ella Goetz finished it with a kill.
“We made fewer errors in the second game so our touches got much better,” Coach Kelly said. “We served better and passed better in the second game so we controlled more of what we can in that game.”
The third game took a similar path of the first game. Notre Dame saw players such as freshman Teagan Kondik get their first region tourney experience.
“I was a little nervous going in. But I feel better now,” Kondik said. “I think it’s really helped me improve as a player and a person just being around all these really good athletes. It’s inspired me to get better on my own and in practice.”
Notre Dame takes on Conner (28-8) in the 9th Region semifinals back at Cooper at 7:30 p.m. on Tuesday. Notre Dame beat Conner, 3-0 (25-13, 25-16, 25-7) on Sept. 14 in Hebron.
Dixie Heights graduates four seniors from the team that made it to the region tournament for the seventh straight year. The lone region tournament win during that time came in the quarterfinals in 2018 against Highlands.