By Terry Boehmker
NKyTribune sports reporter
The final showdown between the top two teams in Kentucky high school volleyball all season lived up to expectations. Louisville Assumption won a highly competitive five-set match against top-ranked Notre Dame in the semifinals of the state tournament on Saturday at George Rogers Clark High School.
After Notre Dame won the fourth set, 25-15, to even the match, Assumption jumped ahead, 8-4, in the tiebreaker and closed it out with a 6-3 run for a 15-9 victory. The Rockets went on to defeat Louisville Mercy, 3-0, in Saturday night’s championship match to claim their 24th state title.
Notre Dame defeated Assumption twice during the regular season, but three seniors in the Rockets’ lineup led their team to the state semifinal victory by getting a combined total of 58 kills.
The team leader was Bailey Blair with 26, followed by Emma Barnett with 17 and Janie Eichberger with 15.
The only Pandas with double-figure kill totals were senior Ava Tilden with 15 and junior Audrey Dyas with 14. Dyas was named to the state all-tournament team along with Notre Dame senior libero Julia Grace, who had 19 digs.
The first three sets in the semifinal match were back-and-forth battles. Assumption won the first and third sets, 25-23 and 25-22, and Notre Dame pulled out a 25-22 win in the second set.
The Pandas scored six straight points in the fourth set to spark a 16-5 run that carried them to the widest winning margin, 25-15, of the match. Dyas scored six points during that decisive run, but the momentum didn’t carry over into the tiebreaker set for the 9th Region champions.
Notre Dame finished the season with a 33-4 record. Grace was named Defensive Player of the Year on the all-state team selected by the Kentucky Volleyball Coaches Association before the state tournament.
Tilden was also a first-team all-state team selection. She and Grace will be teammates at Xavier University next season. The returning players for the Pandas include setter Lizzy Larkins, who had 941 assists in 37 matches, and hitters Dyas, Gracie Portwood and Teagan Kondik, who had a combined total of 645 kills this season.
Scott’s best playoff run in 10 years ends with loss
to Louisville Mercy in state tournament semifinals
Scott’s second attempt to become the first Northern Kentucky public school volleyball team to reach the state tournament final fell short Saturday when the Eagles lost to Louisville Mercy, 3-0, in a state semifinal match at George Rogers Clark High School.
The same two teams played in the 2014 state semifinals with the same 3-0 result. Mercy won the state title that year, but the Jaguars lost to Louisville Assumption, 3-0, in Saturday’s night’s championship match.
Offensive execution was the difference in the semifinal match. Mercy finished had 49 kills on 109 attempts with 13 errors for a .330 attack percentage. Scott converted 22 of 91 kill attempts with 13 errors for .099 percent.
That resulted in Mercy winning three straight sets by scores of 25-10, 25-23 and 25-16.
The Scott players named to the state all-tournament team were seniors Brooklyn Helm and Elise Manhardt. In the semifinal match, Helm had a team-high nine assists and Manhardt had a team-high 11 digs.
The other four players in the Eagles’ starting lineup were juniors who will be returning next season.
That group includes setter Ryann Grigsby and hitters Payton Grigsby, Morgan Justice and Milyn Minor, who led the team in kills during their 31-12 season.
Minor was named 10th Region Player of the Year and was among the three underclassmen selected first-team all-state by the Kentucky Volleyball Coaches Association.