Notre Dame dropped to fourth in state title run

WARRENSBURG, Mo. -- It wasn't the finish Notre Dame's volleyball was looking for Saturday.

The Bulldogs, 30-7-1 and ranked No. 1 in the Southeast Missouri media poll, fell 25-15, 25-21 in the Class 3 third-place game to Duchesne at the Central Missouri State University Multipurpose Building.

Notre Dame, in its first final four as a Class 3 program since moving up from Class 2 two years ago, had trouble matching up with Duchesne from the start.

"I don't know what happened," Notre Dame coach Tara Stroup said. "We didn't play well at all."

The Bulldogs looked flat and off balance from the start, plagued by mishandled plays and botched passes.

"We weren't passing to the right people," Stroup said, "and it showed in the first game."

In the second game, the Bulldogs were on pace to avenge the loss and take Duchesne into three games. Notre Dame led 13-8.

"We fought really hard," Stroup said. "We gave a good effort."

The Bulldogs couldn't hold the lead and finally gave way on a Pioneers ace that put Notre Dame behind 22-21.

Notre Dame's defense made a handful of dazzling volleys and key blocks down the stretch, but the Bulldogs couldn't find the ultimate counter.

"I thought we made a lot of progress during the second match of yesterday's tournament," Stroup said of Friday's round-robin semifinals. "We just couldn't build on it."

Notre Dame connected on only 15 of 71 kill attempts for seven-percent kill rate.

"We couldn't get anything started," Stroup said. "We were really struggling."

The Bulldogs were led by junior Laura Browne with four kills in 10 attempts and senior Sommer McCauley with eight digs. Valaree Rutherford connected on eight of nine serve attempts and had one error for a 88.9 service percentage.

"I'm happy with our effort overall," Stroup said. "We fought really hard. I can't really be angry. I'm disappointed, but not many teams can say they placed fourth in the state."