Lack of senior leadership different, but not concerning for Bulldogs

On paper, the Notre Dame Bulldogs have one of the more interesting rosters in the area.

They feature a team with no seniors but key experience from some of their core young pieces a season ago has the Bulldogs hopeful they can be a premiere team in the region.

Notre Dame returns three of its five starters from last season in Brie Rubel, Kate Rubel and Neveah Lucious.

“We had two spots open up for us, and it’s been a battle,” Bulldogs coach Kirk Boeller said. “We have seven really talented kids who are fighting for those two spots, and whoever wins those two spots we’re going to trust them, and they’re going to fit in great.”

A roster with no senior leadership is a unique situation for Boeller and his staff.

“It’s never happened before,” Boeller said. “It’ll be interesting this year to see juniors be asked to do stuff that seniors normally do on teams. It’s going to be an interesting dynamic.”

With such a young roster, Boeller expects to see some struggles throughout the early part of the season.

“Everyone is learning something new with our offense,” Boeller said. “I imagine it’ll take a couple months to get comfortable with the new offense.”

Perhaps the big looming question as the season-opening SEMO Conference Tournament draws near is the health of Brie Rubel as she suffered an injury during volleyball season.

“She’ll be good to go,” Boeller said.

As the Bulldogs appear to be close to fully healthy, Boeller and his group are excited for the conference tournament, where they are the top seed, beginning on Tuesday, Nov. 28.

“That one is always interesting because nobody’s played,” Boeller said. “A lot of teams graduated several good players, so it gives the JV players from last year a chance to step up and showcase what they have. To me, anyone can win this tournament. Being in a tournament with no senior leadership will be interesting.”

As is the case for any team, the Bulldogs are hoping to turn any growing pains into lessons learned by the time postseason play rolls around.

“There’s going to be growing pains from now until districts,” Boeller said. “That’s part of it, and that’s part of having a young team. You’re going to win some, and you’re going to lose some but getting on-court experience and getting comfortable with everyone (is our focus).”

Some other key dates for the Bulldogs include their home opener at 6:30 p.m. on Dec. 18 against Lutheran St. Charles, the Nixa Invitational Tournament that begins on Jan. 18, and the regular season finale on Feb. 20 against Westminster Christian Academy.

Boeller is hopeful the schedule his group faces will have them battle-tested once district play begins.

“It does a lot more good to play a team and get whooped than play a team and whoop them,” Boeller said. “There’s things we can learn and see from teams that

are potentially better than us. I’ve always been a fan of saying the regular season record doesn’t matter. You want to pad your schedule with good out-of-conference competition.”