Fast tempo, competitive teams wear down ND at volleyball final four

KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- Senior Meghan Dohogne said after her team's loss in the Class 3 third-place match Saturday that it was too early to think about what the team had accomplished this season.

The state-tournament experience she could discuss.

"It was pretty neat," she said, holding her team's fourth-place trophy. "It's not what I expected. It was intense."

The competition was the surprise.

"Everybody was good," Dohogne said with some exasperation in her voice. "Everybody played so hard to get here."

The Bulldogs managed just one win in six round-robin games Friday, beating eventual third-place winner Logan-Rogersville in their final game of the day.

Kansas City-based O'Hara, which won its third consecutive state title Saturday, and St. Louis-based Villa Duchesne swept Notre Dame.

"I just think in our class with these St. Louis and Kansas City team in Class 3, they're club teams, they play year round," Notre Dame coach Tara Stroup said after round-robin play Friday. "The kids on my team are three-sport athletes and the only time we play volleyball is during volleyball season.

"It's almost like a college team playing against a high school team. It's a completely different tempo."

That tempo is fast and it's hard to handle for a team that doesn't see it often.

"I've been here before, but the kids never have," Stroup said. "The last time we were here was '03 and they don't know what they're in for. Then they get here and we hit it and they keep bringing back and it's like, 'now what are we supposed to do?'"

The Notre Dame team did accomplish some significant firsts this season. It won its first SEMO Spike tournament in school history and it will go down as the winningest team in school history with 34 wins.

"I told them a lot of records have been made this year," Stroup said.