By Terry Boehmker
NKyTribune sports reporter
Beechwood’s volleyball team will enter the post-season playoffs as the 9th Region favorite for the first time in program history after defeating Notre Dame, 3-2, in a regular season match on Saturday.
Notre Dame won the last four 9th Region champions and entered Saturday’s match ranked No. 2 in the latest state coaches poll. But No. 4-ranked Beechwood won a fifth set tie-breaker, 15-9, to upset one of the state’s perennial powers.
After Beechwood won the first two sets, 25-21, 25-18, Notre Dame rallied to win the next two, 25-17, 25-18. There were multiple lead changes in the tie-breaker set before Beechwood came out on top.
The victory gives Beechwood a 30-2 record going into the final week of the regular season. The Tigers lost to Louisville Assumption, the state’s top-ranked team, in August and Cincinnati Seton in September.
They have victories over several other state-ranked teams, including No. 6 St. Henry twice, No. 9 North Oldham, Lexington Catholic and Louisville Ballard, who tied for No. 10 in the last coaches poll.
Notre Dame’s record dropped to 19-10. The Pandas entered the season with 59 straight wins against 9th Region teams, but that streak ended with a loss to St. Henry on Sept. 1.
Beechwood coach Matt Long has six seniors on the roster. They’re looking to lead the Tigers to their first region championship and a trip to the state tournament.
A public school team has never won the 9th Region volleyball title since the current playoff format was established in 2003. When the state tournament included region runner-up teams, Beechwood made it to the semifinals in 2002 and 1989 and lost in the first round in 1991.
Volleyball teams will compete in district tournaments next week. The winner and runner-up in each of those advance to region tournaments. As the top two seeds in the 35th District, Beechwood and Notre Dame will be on opposite sides of the bracket.
CovCath wins Class 3A boys title in NKAC cross country meet
The Covington Catholic boys cross country team that will return to Class 3A competition in the region meet on Oct. 24 won the large school division at the Northern Kentucky Athletic Conference Championships by a wide margin on Saturday at the Idlewild Park course in Boone County.
The Colonels, who won Class 2A state titles in 2023 and 2024 and placed second last year, placed first in the Division I conference meet with 37 points, followed by Class 3A region rivals Ryle (68), Conner (88) and Campbell County (95).
The top three finishers were Campbell County senior Grant Holbrook (15:52), Conner junior Ethan Mann (16:11) and CovCath senior Braden Franxman (16:31).
Brossart won the Division II boys team title, 46-65, over St. Henry. The top two finishers in that division were St. Henry junior Logan Vaniglia (16:17) and Brossart freshman Henry Kramer (16:50).
Highlands edged Ryle, 50-51, to win the Division I girls team title and Beechwood was the Division II girls champion. The winning runners were Campbell County Lila Dunlevy (19:19) in Division I and Brossart freshman Callie Oshner (19:50) in Division II. Dunlevy won a sprint to the finish line ahead of Highlands eighth-grader Morgan Ripley.
Ryle graduate voted first-team all-conference in basketball
Ryle graduate Sarah Baker was voted first team all-conference by in a preseason poll of Horizon League women’s basketball coaches.
The 6-foot-2 forward averaged 11.5 points, 4.2 rebounds and shot 52.5 percent (181 of 345) from the field last season when the Penguins posted a 25-10 record, the team’s highest win total since 1997-98. They played in the championship game of the Horizon League tournament and reached the round of 16 in the Women’s National Invitational Tournament.
Baker set a team record for most points scored (404) as a freshman. She was a double-figure scorer in 23 games and posted season-high totals of 25 points and 11 rebounds in an overtime win against Wright State.