Lady Bulldogs fall in SEMO final

Notre Dame High School girls volleyball team rocketed to the finals of the 14th annual SEMO Specialties and Sports Tournament at the Show Me Center on Saturday.

The Lady Bulldogs championship run ended with a 15-8, 15-13 loss to Rosati-Kain of St. Louis in the winners bracket, the Gold Division. The second-place finish was the best ever for Notre Dame in the highly competitive tournament.

"I'm so proud of these kids," said Notre Dame coach Helen Payne. "They played their hearts out."

An ecstatic Brother David Migliorino, Notre Dame's principal, said, "Awesome. Just awesome. Our kids played so well. We love our lady volleyball team."

To reach the finals, the Lady Bulldogs defeated some pretty good teams along the way including Farmington, Leopold and Meadow Heights.

The Farmington Knightettes, going for their third championship in a row, exited in the first round of the championship bracket as the Lady Bulldogs rallied from a 9-15 first-set loss to capture the final two games 15-11, 15-13.

Notre Dame also defeated always tough Leopold in the quarterfinals 15-12, 3-15, 15-4 and sent Meadow Heights, last year's runner-up, home early with a 15-10, 15-10 semifinal victory.

Rosati-Kain defeated Notre Dame of St. Louis in straight sets 15-13, 15-9 to advance to the finals.

In the first game of the finals, Rosati-Kain jumped out to a 2-0 lead, but the Lady Bulldogs fought back to take a 5-2 lead. Rosati-Kain pulled into a tie at 5-5 and was never headed as it ran off the final four points of the set with Notre Dame trailing 8-11.

The exciting second set saw Rosati-Kain, a Class 3A school, again take control early with a 3-0 lead, which they maintained throughout most of the contest. Notre Dame mounted a late rally to draw to within one point at 13-14, but Rosati-Kain, after several sideouts by both teams, finally put away a service ace for match point.

Rosati-Kain's coach Julie Flatley said, "We lost in the semis last year, so this is really big for us. Our defense and passing were excellent."

Notre Dame got contributions up and down the lineup in its quest for the tournament crown.

Of her team's depth, Payne said, "That is what's so special about this team. I've got a really good bench. I don't have any weak players. We had players come off the bench cold and give us a lift."

In the consolation bracket, Sikeston handled a tired Zalma team to win the championship 15-7, 15-11.

On his squad's performance, Zalma coach Shannon Garner said, "I'm very pleased. To get here we had to play two games, three sets each with rally scoring, against Advance and St. Elizabeth and they gave us all we could handle. We gave it our best shot, but we were a little tired."