Lady Bearcats fall to Notre Dame in district semis

A comeback story ends in defeat.

The Dexter Lady Bearcats pushed Notre Dame to their limits in the semifinals of the Class 3 District 1 volleyball tournament, but it wouldn’t be enough to move on to the next round.

After a clean 3-0 sweep on Doniphan in the quarterfinals, the Lady Bearcats entered Monday’s matchup with a lot of confidence. Despite their efforts, they would fall to number one seeded Notre Dame 3-1 (25-14, 25-15, 25-17 and 25-22).

Though the Lady Bearcats won’t be moving on to the finals, head coach Haylee Orf said she was proud of the fight that the team showed throughout the match.

“I feel like we were ready, but Notre Dame is an incredible team,” Orf said. “We were a little undermatched with them, but our girls showed so much heart, and they battled the entire game. After the first two sets, I saw us improve as the game progressed. Our defense stepped up, but we just ran out of gas at the end, but I’m super proud of how they did.”

Orf said going down early in the first few sets was hard on their mental game, which they struggled with throughout the year, but she saw major improvement as they got closer to the postseason, so she was incredibly proud of the fight they showed in the last two sets.

With their backs against the wall, the Lady Bearcats regrouped to take the third set, with an opportunity to push the game to five. Although they managed to flip the momentum, Notre Dame held strong in the end to put the Lady Bearcats away for the third time this season.

Orf said how the Lady Bearcats battled against Notre Dame shows a lot about the program and how good they can be moving forward.

“We've got a lot of young talent on that floor, and we will see most of them back next season,” she said. “I think moving forward, it's only up from here, and I'm excited. We can't go back, but these moments will make us tougher, they'll make us stronger and we'll be ready for some redemption next year.”