Notre Dame's offense struggles in pool play at state volleyball tourney

KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- The Notre Dame volleyball team's second consecutive trip to the Class 3 final four didn't get off to a winning start Friday, but it was an optimistic one.

The Bulldogs hung with O'Hara, which eventually won a fourth consecutive state title Saturday, before dropping the first game of pool play 25-19.

"Well after the first game when we played pretty well, we were all like, 'We can do it,'" Notre Dame outside hitter Allyson Bradshaw said. "Then the second game it just kind of brought us down, brought our momentum down a little, I guess."

The holes in O'Hara's defense, which Notre Dame exploited in the opening game with tips and well-placed attacks suddenly disappeared and with them the Bulldogs' offense.

After recording 14 kills, which equaled O'Hara's total in Game 1, Notre Dame got just five during a 25-7 loss in Game 2.

Notre Dame's Haley Wengert passes the ball against St. Francis Borgia during Game 1 on Friday.

"We got 19 points on O'Hara, which was pretty good," Notre Dame's Shannon Brennan said. "I think we threw them off. I think they underestimated us, but then the next game we didn't play that well anyway."

The Bulldogs turned in a similar performance against Logan-Rogersville in their second match of the day. After winning Game 1 25-17, Notre Dame lost Game 2 25-10.

Notre Dame was aided by 11 hitting errors from Logan-Rogersville hitters in Game 1 before its own offense struggled once again in Game 2.

The Bulldogs recorded nine errors to just four kills in the second game and hit negative .139.

"The second game we just stopped talking, stopped communicating and everything," Bradshaw said. "We just weren't really excited or happy in that second game. Whenever we're up, that's when we play good, so we need to stay excited and stay pumped up for that game."

Notre Dame's Amy Wibbenmeyer hits against St. Francis Borgia's Paige Straatmann during Game 1 of their pool-play match Friday.

The Bulldogs split their pool-play match against Logan-Rogersville at the 2009 final four as well before losing to it in the third-place game.

"The first game we played good," Bradshaw said. "We had it all under control. Then the second game it just all went downhill."

The split combined with other pool-play results meant Notre Dame needed a sweep of St. Francis Borgia to clinch a spot in the state championship match, but the Bulldogs were swept 25-13, 25-21.

The Knights dominated the play at the net and stuffed Notre Dame hitters eight times in the match.

"They were blocking us so much that we got afraid," Bradshaw said. "We were scared to hit because we kept hitting into their blocks, so then our hitting was then off.

Notre Dame's Brooke Bohnert, Haley Wengert and Allyson Bradshaw, from left, celebrate a point during the first game of a round-robin match against Logan-Rogersville during the 2010 MSHSAA Class 3 girls volleyball semifinals at Municipal Auditorium in Kansas City, Mo., on Friday, Nov. 5, 2010. (Kristin Eberts)

"We were pretty much on defense that whole game and we can't win if we're not hitting at them. We can't just keep giving them free balls."

The loss set up a rematch with Logan-Rogersville in the third-place match.

"I thought that they tried hard today," Notre Dame coach Tara Stroup said. "We did some very good things. We blocked some very good hitters even though we're 3 to 4 inches shorter than most of them all the way across the front row. We got some service aces, we placed the ball well, we tried to the best of our ability, so I'm happy with how we did."