By Terry Boehmker
NKyTribune sports reporter
A lot was going through Teagan Kondik’s mind when her Notre Dame volleyball team lost the first two sets in the 9th Region championship match against Beechwood on Thursday at Dayton High School.
As a senior, she didn’t want her final season to end there and not play in the state tournament. There was also the fact that Notre Dame had won the last four region titles and she wanted to continue that streak.
With all that on her mind, Kondik led a comeback that ended with her getting the final kill in a fifth-set tiebreaker to give the Pandas a 3-2 victory.
They’ll play a home match against 10th Region champion Brossart in the first round of the state tournament on Monday.
“I’ve played four years here and seen people before me be leaders on the court and take the initiative,” Kondik said. “I take a lot of inspiration from that and wanted to be that person tonight for my teammates.”
Scoring the winning point wasn’t the only reason Kondik was named most valuable player on the all-tournament team.
The 6-foot-1 outside hitter finished with a team-high 28 kills and 13 defensive digs in the five-set victory. She was the main reason the Pandas finished with a .315 attack percentage.
“Props to them and props to Teagan,” said Beechwood coach Matt Long. “She’s a great hitter, great swinger. She’s hard to stop.”
Beechwood was playing in its first 9th Region final since 2003 and it looked like the Tigers would become the first public school team to win the title when they won the first two sets, 26-24, 25-22, behind the scoring of senior Isabel O’Brien.
Notre Dame’s longest scoring run during those two sets was 3-0, but the Pandas scored the first seven points in the third set and went on to a 25-13 win.
In the fourth set, Kondik scored seven points and junior middle hitter Mykala Roose had three during a 25-14 win that tied the match.
The Pandas used an 8-2 run in the tiebreaker to open up an 11-4 lead. Beechwood cut it to 14-10 with a rally led by O’Brien before Kondik ended the match with a tomahawk spike.
“We just lost a little bit of that momentum and that energy in the third and fourth sets and that kind of killed us,” coach Long said. “Volleyball is a game of momentum and (Notre Dame) definitely grabbed it and held on to it those last three sets.”
Beechwood won a five-set match against Notre Dame during the regular season. When they met again in the 35th District final, the Pandas came away with a 3-0 win.
After the Pandas fell behind, 0-2, in the region final, Kondik and her teammates refused to give in and rallied to win the program’s fifth straight title and 18th over the last 23 seasons.
“You play like that for your teammates,” Kondik said. “Obviously, Notre Dame is a big name in volleyball and you do want to protect that name on your jersey. But you want to do it for yourself and your teammates and your coaches most of all.”
The other leading hitters for the Pandas were Roose with 16 kills and junior Emma Redlinger with 11. Roose also scored on four block assists and junior libero Kaia Tilden had four service aces to go with a team-high 20 digs.
“One of the big things we’ve been practicing this season is staying calm in the moment,” Roose said. “After losing that second set, we knew we had to keep pushing and keep fighting. Just coming back with all that energy was a key part of it.”
Brossart defeated George Rogers Clark, 3-0, in the 10th Region final on Thursday to win that title for the first time. The Mustangs (36-3) will be making their state tournament debut against Notre Dame. Brossart players named to the 10th Region all-tournament team were Leah Robinson, Aubrey Rebholz, Evelyn Laker and Audrey Arnold.
9th REGION ALL-TOURNAMENT TEAM
Notre Dame — Teagan Kondik (MVP), Kaia Tilden, Ellie Osterkamp. Beechwood — Isabel O’Brien, Macy Armstrong. St. Henry — Kenadi Sieg. Conner — Charlotte Patton. Ryle — Brodgett Burns. Dixie Heights — Payton Bromley. Highlands — Bella Thomas. NewCath — Grace Mumper.