Over the last 12 seasons, St. Henry has dominated the All “A” state tournament with seven titles.
On Wednesday night, the Crusaders took one step closer to a shot at another title after defeating Newport Central Catholic in straight sets to claim the 9th Region All “A” Classic title, 2-0 (25-10, 25-6).
“We graduated six important seniors last year,” Crusaders head coach Maureen Kaiser said. “These girls play with a lot of spunk and enthusiasm this year. With a big roster, starting three freshmen for us is a pretty different look.”
Varsity inexperience hasn’t appeared to be an issue as St. Henry has only dropped two sets through the first 13 games of the season. Wednesday’s championship match was no different as the Crusaders jumped out to a hot start.
With the help of junior outside hitter Madi Demler’s five kills in the first set, the Crusaders turned a 4-4 tie into a 12-4 lead. Outside of St. Henry’s strong offensive presence, NewCath struggled to limit their unforced errors between serving and setting.
“Not being able to get blocks or make defensive stops really hurt us tonight,” NCC head coach Angie Reckers said. “Our offense wasn’t really able to make up for any of that and against a team like St. Henry, that’s a hard result to come back from.”
St. Henry claimed the opening set 25-10 and showed no signs of taking their foot off the gas in the second set. Jumping out to a quick 10-2 lead in the second set, senior middle blocker Corrine Blackburn dominated the net defensively and offensively as her 6-foot-3 stature was no match for NCC’s defense.
The West Point University commit had four kills on the night and was awarded 9th Region All “A” Classic tournament MVP. Blackburn and outside hitter Elizabeth Casey lead the program as the team’s lone seniors.
“They’re both true leaders not just by their actions but also their words,” Kaiser said. “They love the game, they love the team, and they love St. Henry. Corrine (Blackburn) gives us consistency night in and night out, you can see in her performances how much she loves being here.”
Coming out of a timeout up 15-6 after five straight points, the Crusaders converted on 15 unanswered points to seal a 25-6 set and claim the regional title. Despite a result on the wrong end of the scoreline, the Thoroughbreds improved off of last season’s semifinal finish.
“We’ve definitely found more success this year although it didn’t quite show up tonight in the finals,” Reckers said. “Leading up to the match we made fewer unforced errors and got to balls defensively we weren’t able to get to in the past.”
NCC found most of their offensive production through senior outside hitter Madison Wolf who had three kills on the night. Defensively, sophomore libero Jordyn Reckers had six digs on the night.
With the loss, the Thoroughbreads drop to 7-10 on the season and fall just short of advancing on to the All “A” state tournament. NCC’s next match will take place at home against Dayton Wednesday.
On the other side of the net, St. Henry had kills from six different players on the night. They’ll look to keep the cohesiveness rolling this Saturday as they take on Notre Dame in the 17th Annual Playing for a Purpose match.
The highly anticipated matchup will be held at Boone County this year as St. Henry will look to end their five-game losing streak to the Pandas. The matchup is No. 3 (Notre Dame) vs No. 4 (St. Henry) in the latest Kentucky Volleyball Coaches Association poll. The Crusaders last defeated the Pandas in 2021 where they went on to win the state title.
“We didn’t want to say anything about that match until we were able to get out of here,” Kaiser said. “We didn’t perform very well the other night after Beechwood gave us a great challenge, so I told the girls I didn’t want that to control our focus.”
Sure to live up to its expectations, Saturday’s matchup will not come easy for the Crusaders. As the underdog, St. Henry will face a Notre Dame squad who lost just one senior from last season’s state runner-up.
“They’re an experienced team,” Kaiser said. “We’ll fill the gym and let the rest play out for us.”
St. Henry will head down to Elizabethtown on September 21 to compete in the All “A” Classic tournament.
All “A” Classic All Tournament Team: Ludlow- Alex Hancock, Heritage Academy- Alexis Stevens, Bellevue- Paulina Long, Holy Cross- Avery Sturgeon, Beechwood- Isabelle O’Brien, Beechwood- Rachel Lewandowski, Villa Madonna- Maya Kondik, Villa Madonna- Catherine Gifford, NCC- Madison Wolf, NCC- Vivian Fassler, NCC- Jordyn Reckors, St. Henry- Kenadi Seig, St. Henry- Madi Demler, St. Henry- Elizabeth Casey, MVP St. Henry- Corrine Blackburn
Some more photos from Wednesday’s 9th Region All “A” championship. All photos provided by Charles Bolton.
