By Dan Weber
NKyTribune sports reporter
Notre Dame Academy’s opening round state tournament victory in three sets Monday over visiting Lexington Catholic wasn’t exactly Panda-monium.
Sure, it was loud here in Park Hills. And fun. But it was also expected . . . and just the first step back in completing a year’s journey.
The 32-3 Pandas, No. 1 in the state and owners of the first state girls’ volleyball championship way back in 1979 and winners of nine more since then, have been looking to this moment ever since last year’s disappointing state championship loss to Louisville Assumption.
“We think about that every single day, every single practice,” said NDA’s 6-1 killer hitter, Ava “Tilly” Tilden, who will be playing at Xavier next year.
Her middle blocker teammate, Ella Goetz, added to that thought. “Even though we’re thinking that, you still have to take it one game at a time – like tonight. We under-rated them.”
Against a team that calls itself simply “Catholic” and unlike an NDA team that started its state tournament participation 47 years ago, this was the Knights’ first-ever shot. “And we draw the No. 1 team,” one Catholic fan lamented.
But they were ready, led by a do-everything senior, Abby Lowe, the Knights, who finished 26-7, jumped on the Pandas, 6-1, in the first set as they scrapped, hustled and kept everything in play, allowing the athletic Lowe to finish for them.
“We didn’t know what to expect,” Goetz said of the Lexington team. But of themselves, and this veteran team, they do. “We’re really close,” Goetz said. “All the people I’m playing with are in my friends’ group.”
Down 6-1 immediately, the Pandas showed no panic. “We stay in the moment,” Tilden said, “especially when things aren’t going our way.”
“It’s OK for them to struggle,” NDA Coach Leslie Litmer said, especially in “a not particularly strong serving game” or two of them with 10 service errors the first two games, “then to see them respond.”
Which the Pandas did, rallying to win three straight games – 25-23, 25-18, 25-18. The first game was especially tight, with NDA managing to tie it at 14-14 and not leading by more than one until a 23-21 lead as Tilden, who plays six rotations a game, led the way with her powerful hits that produced a team-high 16 kills mostly from her outside hitter spot in the three games.
Goetz, who often seems to be in exactly the right spot, added eight, same as her fellow middle blocker, Audrey Dyas. Julia Grace, Tilden’s best friend who will be headed with her to Xavier, added six.
Junior setter Lizzy Larkins got the ball to the right place with 41 assists.
A match like this, especially the start, is not a negative, Litmer says: “It keeps us honest, it makes us humble and shows us what we have to get better at,” starting with shaky serving that saw 13 errors on the night.
“We’re going to be working on serving a lot this week,” said Tilden who started going short, just getting the ball over the net rather than missing long over the back line.
Notre Dame’s identical 25-18 wins in the second and third games saw a similar pattern as the Knights stayed close through the first 20 points or so and then couldn’t contain the depth of the Pandas who got contributions throughout the lineup. In the third game, NDA broke open a 12-12 tie with a 13-6 finish highlighted by back-to-back Grace service aces, a Tilden block and a final kill.
As for taking the pressure of living up to all that NDA history this weekend, “We relish it,” Tilden says of being the newest Pandas to carry on – as the T-shirts NDA students were wearing declared it with just one word — TRADITION.
“I think it really helps us,” Goetz says, “to carry on what all those who came before us were able to do.”
In the round of eight Friday at George Rogers Clark High School in Winchester, Notre Dame will face Region 14 champions Knott County Central (30-9), a 3-1 winner over Ashland Blazer Monday.
Contact Dan Weber at dweber3440@aol.com. Follow him on X (formerly Twitter) @dweber3440.