To say that the Notre Dame Lady Irish volleyball team has had an outstanding season would be a huge understatement, but there’s still one more match to make it all complete.
Notre Dame won its second match at Middle Tennessee Christian School in Murfreesboro Wednesday morning as they defeated Goodpasture in three straight sets to earn a spot in Thursday’s state championship match.
Wednesday’s scores were 25-23, 25-23 and 25-21. With the win, Notre Dame improves to 32-4 with its fifth straight victory while Goodpasture is now 31-3.
Goodpasture and King’s Academy were playing in the losers bracket final for the right to face Notre Dame on Thursday. King’s Academy is the last team to beat Notre Dame, that coming about two weeks ago.
Notre Dame won the Class A-AA state volleyball title back in 2006 and the Lady Fighting Irish are just wanting to add another gold award to the trophy case.
Coach Dan Clotfelter was really happy following Tuesday’s 3-0 win over BGA, but he was even happier following Wednesday’s win.
“That was a war out there today,” he said shortly after the match ended.
“I thought we played well and really served great as we only missed one serve the entire match. We were totally hitting our targets.
“We don’t have a bunch of rah-rah girls on this team as they’re serious about taking care of business at hand. All they wanted to talk about Tuesday night was what our plan would be, but we also knew that if we played our best, we had a shot to advance.
“I really don’t care who we play tomorrow as we’re not concerned about that. I’m promising you that we’ll be ready to play, no matter who it is. Right now we’re going to watch Baylor play. They support us and we support them, but we have a lot of free time the rest of the day.
“I talked to some of the teachers at school and the kids back home were all watching us on video. I’m not sure a whole lot of learning took place this morning, but we have a bunch of folks who are great supporters of our volleyball team and it’s nice to get a little recognition for what we’ve done.
“We’re really excited and now we just have one more to go,” Clotfelter added.
McKenna Brown had 19 kills in addition to six digs and a pair of aces to lead the Lady Irish attack.
Mary Fillauer had 33 assists while Riley McCormick chipped in with 19 digs. Maggie Fillauer finished with three aces while Regan Wolf was credited with 4.5 blocks.
Notre Dame’s match on Thursday will be played at Middle Tennessee Christian School with the first serve set for noon Chattanooga time.
NOTRE DAME STATS:
McKenna Brown – 19 kills, 6 digs, 2 aces
Lindsey Burns – 4 kills, 7 digs
Emmeline Crisp – 4 kills, 1 dig
Maggie Fillauer – 11 digs, 3 aces
Mary Fillauer – 33 assists, 5 kills, 1 ace
Riley McCormick – 19 digs, 2 aces, 2 kills
Madeline Solis – 1 dig
Beth Voges – 1 kill, 1 block
Regan Wolf – 4 kills, 4 digs, 4.5 blocks
Peyton Woody – 1 kill, ½ block.
(Email John Hunt at nomarathonmoose@gmail.com)