For the 15th time in the last 21 seasons, St. Henry and Notre Dame will meet for a region volleyball championship.
The two were victorious in the 9th Region volleyball tournament semifinals on Tuesday at St. Henry, Notre Dame disposing of Highlands while St. Henry took down Ryle in a five-set thriller.
Wednesday’s championship match is set for 6:30 p.m.
Here’s how they went down:
St. Henry def. Ryle, 3-2 (25-15, 15-25, 25-14, 22-25, 15-10)
The matchup of two top 10 teams in the state did not disappoint.
It also showed Ryle is pretty darn close to breaking up the monotony of St. Henry and Notre Dame in the 9th Region.
In a back-and-forth affair, it was the Crusaders prevailing in the five-set thriller. After the two traded sets in a two-hour, 15-minute match, tied at 9-9, the Crusaders pulled away in the decider with a 6-1 run to win it.
“Just told the girls to be confident and change their facial demeanor,” Crusaders coach Maureen Kaiser said. “It’s a game of up and downs and a game of errors and who can pick up and move on. The more they talked and got comfortable and we’re proud to move on.”
While the expectation to get to the championship game is the standard, St. Henry had to replace six seniors from a 2023 region runner-up team, five of them starters. The victory improves them to 32-5 on the season.
“They’ve surprised me with the wins and the losses. They’ve got the itch,” Kaiser said. “They know what it takes and we’ve got nothing to lose now.”
Corrine Blackburn played a vital role as the middle blocker, constantly hounding the net with 15 kills and seven blocks. Madi Demler, Violet Main, Elizabeth Casey and Emily Helmers also showed their skills at the net. Freshman Kenadi Sieg dug up everything in sight.
Ryle (24-9) posted a season to remember in 2024. They became the first public school in the state of Kentucky to defeat nationally ranked Assumption at the time in September.
“No one can take that away from us,” Raiders coach Tasha Tanner-Lovins said. “We feel like we’re starting to spread the wealth a little bit better and you’re seeing it across the state. Maybe someday soon you’ll see the tides turn in the state championship. There’s club volleyball everywhere and that’s helping the public schools catch up.”
The Raiders won a fifth straight district title and were 16-2 at one point, but season-ending injuries to senior Lucy Trapp and sophomore Rachel King slowed things down a bit.
Trapp was just one of three seniors on the roster as she’ll continue her career at Thomas More, seniors Karsyn Griffin and Rebecca Kramer also graduating. Griffin will continue her academic and playing career at University of North Alabama on their beach volleyball team.
“These girls were so even-keeled and that help set the tone for the team,” Tasha-Lovins said. “They just came out and played the game and played the next point. No one got too high or too low and that fed off to the rest of them.”
The future remains bright for the Raiders, standouts like Ariana Furuta, Ashley Towner Layna Wilkinson, Morgan Heater, King and Bridget Burns back, making Ryle a serious contender once again next season to threaten the big two. No team outside of the Pandas and Crusaders have claimed a region title since the 9th Region was formed in 2003.
“We had a freshman and an eighth grade middle tonight,” Tanner-Lovins said. “I don’t even know what to say about them. They stepped in and did a fabulous job. Ria’s defense was unbelievable tonight, too.”
St. Henry took the first set behind eight kills and five blocks in the set, four of the blocks coming from Blackburn, Demler adding three kills. At 15-14, St. Henry closed on a 10-1 run.
Photo slideshow below, provided by Charles Bolton:
It was Ryle’s turn for a late run, closing the second set on a 10-3 run. Bridget Burns and Karsyn Griffin were the combining forces in the late spurt with five kills.
St. Henry controlled the third set, a 6-0 run getting them up 10-4 in the third. Ryle struggled to respond from there, as their fourth of five errors in the set put them in a 15-6 hole and eventually down 2-1 in the match.
Ryle’s response came after a 9-9 tie in the fourth set, going on a 11-2 run for a 21-11 advantage. Things tightened up from there as St. Henry got within 22-20, but were unable to pull off the comeback in the set to send it to the fifth.
“Their defense, they just pick everything up and keep things alive and hit holes there where we got caught standing and watching,” Kaiser said.
To the decider they went. Nerves started to show on Ryle’s end, three errors and a service error giving them a 7-2 deficit. They responded with a 7-2 run of their own to make it 9-9, either team now six points away from the region championship game.
The Crusaders pushed past, collecting four kills and an ace in their final six points during the game closing 6-1 run.
“We honestly gave it our best and went down fighting,” Tanner-Lovins said. “That’s all we can ask for.”
St. Henry gets a shot at their first region title since 2021.
“Wouldn’t have it any other way and our home court,” Kaiser said. “It was a great crowd tonight, it was loud, both had some student body there. I almost got choked up for how loud it was. We can’t play scared and have to play with lots of guts and lots of heart. We’re definitely the underdogs, but we’ll be ready to play.”
Notre Dame def. Highlands, 3-0 (25-13, 25-16, 25-12)
The Pandas are headed to a 19th straight region championship game after taking down Highlands in straight sets.
Notre Dame (30-3) won their sixth straight game, five in a row without dropping a set as they were never really threatened in this one.
Leads of 18-10 in the first set, 17-7 in the second and 21-11 in the third made things pretty comfortable for the Pandas.
“They’re very good,” Bluebirds coach James Delong said. “We knew we had to play really good and clean volleyball and we did not. They were just too talented. Their ball control is phenomenal.”
Highlands (30-10) reached 30 wins on the season for the first time this century and won a region tournament game for the first time since 2019. They’ll graduate four seniors.
“When I came to Highlands last year I stated my goal was to be the best public school in northern Kentucky. We get there, then we can start talking about knocking off a St. Henry or a Notre Dame,” Delong said. “I want to be part of the group that continues to turn things around here. We made huge strides this year.”
Notre Dame was unavailable for comment after the game.
In the 14 region championship matchups since 2004, Notre Dame has won eight, St. Henry with six.
Photo slideshow below from Notre Dame-Highlands, provided by Charles Bolton:
