Notre Dame coach Dan Clotfelter made a comment before Thursday night’s volleyball match with district foe Boyd Buchanan that his team has really picked it up in recent weeks and was playing better now than they had all season.
The veteran coach’s assessment was right on the money as his Lady Irish did indeed play well as they remained unbeaten in district play with a 3-1 victory over the Lady Bucs in the Jack Steiner Sr. Gymnasium in the John Varallo Athletic Center.
Notre Dame won the first two sets by scores of 25-14 and 25-19 before the Lady Bucs rallied with a 25-23 victory in the third set. Notre Dame then prevented any further comeback with a 25-20 win in the fourth set to win the match.
Clotfelter was all smiles following the match with the Lady Bucs, both of them tied at 3-0 in the Division II, District 2-A East.
“We’ve really picked it up in the last two weeks and I thought we played well tonight,” he began after improving to 14-5 overall and 4-0 in district play.
“Our defense was outstanding in the first two sets and I liked the way we kept battling back in the third set. We do a good job of catching up when we’re behind, but we have to learn how to keep moving forward to regain a lead in those situations.
“I thought we had a good game plan and did a nice job of following it as we knew what they were going to do. We were able to get off to a good start, but we knew they would give us their best shot and they did.
“I’m really pleased with how we played overall, but we just have to keep getting better. But it’s nice to be 4-0 in the district,” he concluded with a smile.
Boyd Buchanan coach Shanda Kirk didn’t necessarily like the final outcome, but she had nothing but praise for her team that battled for all they were worth from the first point until the last.
“Just another great match between two rivalry schools,” Kirk said after her team record dropped to 10-7 overall and 3-1 in district play.
“I thought our serving struggled a little bit as we made mistakes we normally don’t make. We had six service errors in the first set alone and that is a huge momentum killer every time.
“We just had an off-night, but we battled and gave it everything we had. There were a lot of long rallies, so the volleyball was high quality, but we look forward to a rematch with them at our place in our final regular-season match.
“There are times when you come out on top and other times when you don’t, but we’re headed in the right direction and have nothing to be ashamed of here tonight,” Kirk concluded.
The Lady Bucs scored the first point in the opening set before a pair of kills from Sam Brown gave Notre Dame a 2-1 lead and an advantage Boyd Buchanan never regained.
Kirk called her first timeout with her team trailing 11-3 and the second one a few minutes later when Notre Dame had stretched its lead to 17-9.
It never got any closer as a kill from Callie McCormick and an ace from McCormick wrapped up the first set.
The Lady Bucs played well in the second set and used a pair of kills from Caitlyn Kruse to build a 9-4 lead. Notre Dame battled back to knot the score at 10-10 on a kill from Caimen Cothron before the Lady Bucs regained the lead at 14-10 on back-to-back kills from Kruse.
Maggie Fillauer then recorded six service points in a row after a Lady Bucs service error to turn that deficit into a 17-14 lead.
The Lady Bucs got within two at 18-16 on a kill from Ansley Ridge before three straight blocks from Brown helped Notre Dame stretch the lead to 23-16, leading to Boyd’s final timeout.
A Lady Buc hitting error was the set point shortly afterward and the Notre Dame lead was 2-0.
Junior Sarah Durham, who has already made a name for herself on the basketball court, is proving that she’s also pretty good on the volleyball court. It was her play in the third set that allowed the Lady Bucs to win as she had two aces and four kills and was the team cheerleader as her team maintained a lead late.
A kill from Kruse allowed the Lady Bucs to lead 23-20 before Notre Dame rallied to tie, but just as quickly, the Lady Irish had a pair of hitting efforts gave awarded the third set to Boyd Buchanan.
There were four lead changes early in the fourth set with Boyd’s last one being at 10-8 following a kill from Ridge. A kill by Notre Dame’s Brown made it 10-9 before Maggie Clotfelter recorded her second ace of the match to knot the score at 10-10.
A block from Violet Wright put the lead back in Notre Dame’s hands and it never went back as the Lady Irish regained command with six of the next seven points.
Another kill from Cothron, her ninth of the match, then clinched the win for Notre Dame.
Fillauer had 45 digs for the Lady Irish while Brown led the way with 18 kills. Clotfelter had 27 assists while Wright did her job up front with five blocks.
There’s no time to rest for the Lady Bucs as they will be playing in the Rocky Top Classic this weekend in Sevierville while Notre Dame will be at home again on Tuesday to host Collegedale Academy.
BOYD BUCHANAN STATS:
None available.
NOTRE DAME STATS:
Amiyah Brown – 2 kills, 1 block
Sam Brown – 18 kills, 2 digs, 3 blocks
Maggie Clotfelter – 27 assists, 2 aces
Caimen Cothron – 9 kills, 21 digs, 1 ace, 2 blocks
Sarah Dobson – 10 assists
Maggie Fillauer – 45 digs, 2 assists
Scarlett Hughes – 4 kills, 1 dig, 2 blocks
Callie McCormick – 4 kills, 15 digs, 1 ace
Savannah Scarboro – 4 digs
Violet Wright – 7 kills, 5 blocks.
(Email John Hunt at nomarathonmoose@gmail.com)