Notre Dame leaves volleyball final four with better feeling

KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- When Notre Dame setter Ashley Humphrey found out that she and her teammates would be facing Logan-Rogersville for a second consecutive year in the Class 3 third-place match, she knew what she wanted to leave Kansas City and the final four with.

"Redemption is on my mind," Humphrey said.

Notre Dame didn't leave Municipal Auditorium with the kind of redemption that Humphrey had in mind. The Bulldogs lost to Logan-Rogersville 16-25, 25-15, 26-24 on Saturday night.

But the Bulldogs left feeling redeemed in another way. They left knowing that they had played well against the Wildcats. And they left with a sense of belonging that escaped them a year ago.

"Last year we played really bad in the fourth-place game and we were all worried about that being our last game and never playing together again," Notre Dame's Allyson Bradshaw said. "This year we played good, so we feel good about what we have."

Notre Dame's Shelby Dix, center, hugs Kelly Litzelfelner as Shannon Brennan, right, looks on after the team's 2-1 loss to Logan-Rogersville during the third place match of the MSHSAA Class 3 girls volleyball finals on Saturday, Nov. 6, 2010, at Municipal Auditorium in Kansas City, Mo. (Kristin Eberts)

Notre Dame went 1-5 in pool play for a second year in a row, but rather than bowing out in two quick games in the third-place match, the Bulldogs earned match points against Logan-Rogersville before picking up fourth-place medals again.

"I really feel different this year," Notre Dame coach Tara Stroup said after Saturday's loss. "I really do. And I told them that just now. I said, 'Girls, last year it was almost like a deer in the headlights this last game.' I just hated for them to end their season feeling like we could've done so much better, we could've done this. This year I don't really feel like that.

"I think when it gets down to be 26-24, one little point or two either way, that can make or break your game. We could easily have won that game, but it was so close the whole time. I feel like they gave it everything they had. I'm not upset with this one. I think that they tried as hard as they could. They didn't choke. They didn't quit, so I'm happy."

Stroup kept her message to her team positive after play ended Friday.

"I tried to get the girls to understand and I know right now we wanted to be playing for first place, but once you get to the final four, you're competing against the best in the state," she said. "I mean, we are overmatched in height with every single team we played today and sometimes when you have those really tall teams, they're not very good defensive teams. But once you get to this point, they're not only tall, they're also good on defense."

Notre Dame junior Kate Edwards, who also played on last year's final four team, said the Bulldogs were intimidated by opponents like four-time defending state champion O'Hara.

"Last year we got up here and we didn't even have a good first game," Edwards said. "We just kind of shut down and saw people like O'Hara and we were like, 'Oh my God.' Now we knew a little bit more what to expect and we played a lot harder."

St. Francis Borgia, holder of nine state titles, joined Notre Dame and Logan-Rogersville at the final four this season.

"I hope we have another chance at it because I really think we can do some damage up here," Edwards said. "I just want to do that so bad."

Notre Dame will lose eight seniors from this year's roster, six of whom played in the Bulldogs' regular rotation.

"We made everyone here proud," senior middle Jaime Brugger said. "We just faltered at the end. We didn't do anything wrong. It just kind of happened."