In a familiar 9th Region volleyball tournament story, the Notre Dame Pandas responded to a challenge in a big way to make it back to the championship game.
This one came against the Conner Cougars, who made their first appearance in the 9th Region semifinals in school history behind their two dynamic middle blockers Lilly Hamburg and Peyton Walker. The Pandas flexed their muscles with their depth to record a sound 3-0 (25-17, 25-9, 25-18) victory and will play for another region championship Thursday at 6:30 p.m. back at Cooper against the rival St. Henry Crusaders.
“I think they just come out every game and they focus on being better every single play,” said Hannah Colvin, Notre Dame assistant coach. “If they have a bad pass, they’re making it up on the next play with a better pass. They’re continually working hard to be better no matter what it is such as a hitting play or blocking play. We’re always seeing them come together as a team and pick each other up.”
It started on defense with 46 digs, two solo blocks and six assisted blocks. Libero Julia Grace led the way with 16 digs and Hannah Dannenberg. Ella Goetz had a nice game blocking with two solo and two assisted blocks.
Notre Dame landed seven aces trying to aid the defensive effort. Lacey Hostetler, Ava Tilden, Goetz had two each.
“It was very big because it got them out of system,” Hostetler said. “It helped us get our team moving on the gas pedal. You just get it in and hit the zone that will help the team win the best.”
The Pandas (29-5) put up another solid game offensively with 45 kills and 41 assists. Tilden, Grace Portwood and Riley McCloskey recorded 10 kills each and Audrey Dyas had seven as the Pandas smacked the ball all over the court. Lauren Ott made 24 assists and Lizzy Larkins had 12.
“We just got our feet to the ball and pushed it out to the hitters,” Ott said. “They talked about where they wanted the ball. We worked on it practice a lot because we knew that we had to perform because they do have a big block.”
Conner (28-9) finished with 18 kills, 18 assists, 24 digs, 10 assisted blocks, one solo block and three aces. Hamburg had seven kills and assisted five blocks and Walker had four kills and one solo block.
“I definitely think they were challenging our block,” Colvin said. “They had a lot of tools off our block and they were just able to get kills off our block. They were making our defenders work every single play, which is nice.”
Anna Hamilton recorded eight digs to lead the Cougars. Setters Aubree Depenbrock and Jordan Ransdell had eight assists each.
Conner stayed close for the first part of the first game, but Tilden landed two kills in a row to put Notre Dame up 12-7. McCloskey finished the game with a kill.
“Our girls left everything they had out there,” said Douglas Rabe, Conner head coach. “It’s just that every time we would have a big hit, Notre Dame would come right back at us with their offense. They showed why they’re the number two team in the state.”
Notre Dame pulled away faster in the second game starting with two Goetz aces to go up 5-2. A Conner error gave the Pandas a 13-3 advantage. The lead extended to 23-9 before Tilden landed an ace and McCloskey finished it with another kill.
Conner scored the first three points of the third game after a Depenbrock ace. But Notre Dame came back to tie it and went ahead by two a couple times before Conner tied it and went ahead 13-12 after a combined block. The Pandas responded with four straight go up for good at 16-13.
Conner graduates 10 seniors, helping elevate the Cougars program that went 5-11 when they were freshmen. Last year’s appearance in the 9th Region Tournament was Conner’s first since 2005.