Chattanooga Christian's Kelbie Williams dives for one of her 13 digs against Notre Dame Monday evening in Phifer Gymnasium on the Lady Irish's campus. Notre Dame ended up 3-1 victors over the Lady Chargers in a 7-AA volleyball match-up.
photo by Dennis Norwood
High school volleyball teams want to be hitting their stride about now as the upcoming district tournaments are just around the corner.
Such was the case at Notre Dame's Phifer Gymnasium on Monday night where the Notre Dame Lady Irish served as host to the Chattanooga Christian Lady Chargers.
Notre Dame improved to 10-9 overall, but more importantly 7-1 in District 7-AA with the 3-1 win. Set scores were 25-14, 25-12, 21-25 and 25-17.
"We played very well for the most part tonight as we're playing great as a team right now," said Notre Dame coach Robin Moore once the action ended.
"We got a little overconfident in that third set as we were back on our heels, but we were able to come back and pull out a big district win. Chattanooga Christian always has a good team and they're well coached, so that makes it even nicer," the first-year coach continued.
"I thought we played solid defensively and offensively and we were really strong at the net. And I don't remember us missing very many serves," she added.
The Lady Irish had prevailed in a match at CCS a few weeks ago and it looked like Monday's battle might not last long as Notre Dame basically breezed to wins in those first two sets.
The Lady Chargers weren't ready to throw in the white towel and finally started playing the kind of volleyball they're capable of playing in the third set.
CCS built an 8-3 lead before Notre Dame started its comeback.
A hitting error allowed the Lady Irish to tie the score for the first time at 12-12 and the score was tied five more times before the Lady Chargers finally took control.
A kill from Annika Fischer gave the lead back to the visitors at 21-20. An ace from Emily Henderson sealed the deal as the Lady Chargers scored five of the last six points.
Four straight service points from Claire Vander Werf allowed Notre Dame to take control in the fourth set, but again, the Lady Chargers weren't ready to go home.
The score was tied four more times before Notre Dame took the lead at 13-10 on a hitting error by CCS. The Lady Chargers didn't get any closer than two points the rest of the way as a kill from Sarah Desai clinched the victory for the Lady Irish.
CCS coach Brian Wood liked the way his team finished much better than the way they started.
"We just didn't pass very well in those first two sets. You can't set plays in the middle if you don't pass and that was a problem for us at the start," Wood said after his team dropped to 13-15 overall and 6-3 in district play.
"I had to remind them that it wasn't over after that second set, but we were able to control the first contact in the third set and that opened things up a little bit. I'm pleased with our defense and the determination we showed to not let the ball hit the floor, but we have a lot of work to do on our serve receive as that hurt us tonight," he added.
Kaylee Stone had 10 kills to lead the Notre Dame attack up front while Tess Scobey had eight kills and six blocks for the Lady Irish.
Keri Klassen had eight digs while Ragen Dobson finished with 31 assists and a team-high three aces.
Henderson had 14 kills and 10 digs to lead the Lady Chargers. Katie Smith had 16 digs and 32 assists while Anna Linkous and Kelbie Williams both had 13 digs.
Signal Mountain, the leading team in District 7-AA, posted a 3-1 victory at GPS on Monday, winning by scores of 25-18, 25-18, 23-25 and 27-25.
CHATTANOOGA CHRISTIAN STATS:
Cassie Curry -- 10 kills, 3 digs, 1 ace, 7 blocks
Anna Linkous -- 3 kills, 13 digs, 1 ace
Emily Henderson -- 14 kills, 10 digs, 1 ace
Brie Hemphill -- 1 kill, 1 assist, 2 digs, 3 blocks
Kelbie Williams -- 13 digs, 3 kills, 1 assist, 1 ace
Allison Hughes -- 6 digs, 1 ace
Katie Smith -- 32 assists, 16 digs
Annika Fischer -- 5 kills, 1 dig.
NOTRE DAME STATS:
Ragen Dobson -- 1 kill, 3 aces, 31 assists, 6 digs, 4 blocks
Sarah Desai -- 3 kills, 2 blocks
Keri Klassen -- 8 digs
Ally Mildenberger -- 2 digs
Kyla Mitchell -- 1 kill, 2 digs, 2 blocks
Tess Scobey -- 8 kills, 6 blocks
Kaylee Stone -- 10 kills, 4 digs
Claire Vander Werf -- 7 kills, 1 ace, 7 digs, 1 block.
GPS STATS:
Gabby Hughes -- 7 kills, 23 assists, 18 digs, 1 block
Kate McVay -- 9 kills, 1 assist, 8 digs
Allyce Buniak -- 12 kills, 1 assist, 3 digs, 2 blocks
Lilly Berger -- 11 kills, 14 assists, 11 digs
Courtlyn Martino -- 2 aces, 10 digs
Hannah Kincer -- 4 kills, 1 ace, 3 digs, 1 block
Jenna Simpson -- 2 kills, 2 assists, 23 digs, 3 aces
Regan Long -- 2 kills, 1 assist, 1 dig, 1 block
Haley Smith -- 1 kill, 1 assist, 3 digs
Karly Benefield -- 1 dig, 2 aces.
(Email John Hunt at nomarathonmoose@gmail.com)
Notre Dame's Kaylee Stone (14) slams a kill towards the defense of CCS' Annika Fischer (24) and Katie Smith (10). Stone had 10 kills and 4 digs for the match.
photo by Dennis Norwood