Roles reversed in Perryville-Notre Dame volleyball rivalry entering season

The rivalry between Notre Dame and Perryville has brought some of the closest and most intense volleyball matches Southeast Missouri has seen in recent years.

Perryville was known as an up-and-coming program and the underdog to dominant Notre Dame for many years, but as the 2014 season approaches the roles have been reversed and Perryville has emerged as the dominant team in the rivalry.

Pirates coach Dave Mirly said there was always a lingering sense that they could never win a district title with Notre Dame standing in the way.

"For so many years we talked about how if we could beat Notre Dame, we'd get over that hump," Mirly said. "And then we finally had a group come through and beat them and now all of the girls believe that we're over it. It's not that feeling of 'Oh no, it's Notre Dame.' It's just another game against another team now, and the intimidation factor isn't there."

Notre Dame Volleyball players, Lydia Goodson, left, Sam Feeney, Abbie McAlister pose for a photo on Monday. (GLENN LANDBERG)

Notre Dame coach Tara Stroup said the rivalry is taking a new twist.

"I think there were years where they considered themselves underdogs because we'd had such a strong tradition," Stroup said. "But I would say in no way shape or form are they the underdogs anymore."

For years, Notre Dame has kept its winning tradition strong by building teams with mostly seniors. That won't be the case this season.

"That's not what I necessarily prefer to do," Stroup said. "... This year it's different because our underclassmen are all we have, but they're really talented and probably could have started varsity on other teams last year."

Stroup said the Bulldogs will only have one returning player, senior Lydia Goodson, on their roster. Goodson was an all-state player for the Bulldogs in her junior season.

The rest of the Notre Dame squad is made up of five juniors, two sophomores and one freshman.

Five of the nine players were on the Notre Dame junior varsity team that had an undefeated season last year. Abby McAlister was a part of that undefeated squad and will play a pivotal role as a hitter and a blocker for Notre Dame.

"It's going to be interesting to see when that team chemistry gels together, how we're going to do," Stroup said. "They've got a lot of ability, but they've never played together before as a team."

Lexi Welter will become the second freshman to start varsity in Stroup's 13-year career as coach at Notre Dame. The other freshman was Shannon Brennan, who made the team in 2007.

Mirly was a little surprised to hear that Notre Dame will only have one senior at the varsity level, but said it doesn't change the way his team will play them.

"I don't care that they've only got one senior back, they are still loaded," Mirly said. "They've got two unbelievably great hitters, and we know they're going to bring their best, but the intimidation factor is no longer there."

Mirly said nine of his 11 players are returning from last year. The Pirates only lost one player to graduation.

"It helps us out tremendously because the leadership is phenomenal," Mirly said. "The first year you play varsity is intense. The speed of the game, the intensity of the crowd are all things you have to take into effect. Every girl I put out on the court is varsity ready and they have that experience. That makes my job easier and the experience they have is phenomenal."

Mirly will be looking to Alex Spears, who is one of three senior captains for the Pirates, to come up in big spots.

The other two captains are Brooke Moll and libero Libbi Schnurbusch, who is returning from a pair of ACL surgeries.

"We consider everyone on our team to be leaders, but those three go above and beyond," Mirly said. "Our captains act as a kind of coach. I want them talking to other players so that way it's not always the big, bad coach. It's the mentality of players acting as coaches so that they feel united as a team."

The three captains have been part of the rivalry since its unofficial beginning in 2010.

The Bulldogs won four straight Class 3 District 1 titles entering that season before Perryville was moved in from District 2.

Members of the Perryville volleyball team celebrate a victory over Notre Dame at the 2010 Notre Dame Volleyballfest tournament, a match that proved pivotal in the teams' developing rivalry. (Missourian file photo)

The Pirates defeated Notre Dame 25-19, 25-19 in the championship game of the early-season VolleyballFest tournament on the Bulldog's home court.

It was the first varsity tournament title for the Pirates under Mirly, who started a rapid rebuilding process in 2007.

Notre Dame coach Tara Stroup said she remembers her team struggling to play consistently.

"I can't tell you exactly what happened in the game point-by-point, but I can tell you I remember we were off our game and we lost," Stroup said. "That probably was the first time that they had beaten us in a while, and who knew it would turn into this?"

Notre Dame avenged that loss with a win in the only other regular-season matchup 25-22, 25-21.

The Bulldogs capped off the season series by winning the Class 3 District 1 championship with a 25-13, 25-20 victory over Perryville before advancing to the final four for a second year in a row. In both years, the Bulldogs settled for a fourth-place finish.

Notre Dame's Shannon Brennan hugs a teammate following the Bulldogs convincing victory over Perryville in the 2010 Class 3 District 1 championship. (Missourian file photo)

Perryville's lone win that season -- and the disappointing but motivating lopsided district loss -- proved to be a turning point and a development in the rivalry. Since the 2010 season, the Pirates have won three consecutive district titles, all against Notre Dame, and have only lost one match to the Bulldogs in three seasons. The Pirates only loss to the Bulldogs was the third meeting of the 2012 season between the two teams. The host Pirates had a match point in the second set, but Notre Dame rallied for a 19-25, 26-24, 25-13 victory.

"We've had a lot of close games with Notre Dame that could have gone either way," Mirly said. "They used to go their way, but lately we've had things go our way, and I think that's because we've had girls who can make plays down the stretch."

Mirly said Natalie Gremaud was one of those players who turned the rivalry in Perryville's favor.

"After that district loss in 2010 Natalie came up to me and said, 'Coach, we're going to win this next year,' and she truly believed that and turned it into victories for us."

Gremaud remembers the transition from 2010 to 2011 well.

"After that season we lost a lot of seniors, and I kind of decided somebody had to step up and if we wanted to do this everybody had to be on board," Gremaud said. "We made sure that everyone, even the freshman, were encouraging everyone so that we could achieve the goals we had set."

The Perryville volleyball team celebrates after capturing the 2011 Class 3 District 1 championship. (Missourian file photo)

The motivation worked for Perryville, which came back to beat Notre Dame twice in the regular season before winning the 2011 Class 3 District 1 championship with a redemptive 25-13, 25-22 victory over Notre Dame.

Gremaud, who graduated in 2012 and now plays at Mineral Area College, said playing in close games against Notre Dame was the best part of the rivalry.

"It was always such great competition with two great teams going at it," Gremaud said. "Even in middle school I remember it being a really tight rivalry and lucky enough for us we came out on top in some close games."

In 2012, the defending champion Pirates downed the top-seeded Bulldogs 28-26, 26-24 to once again claim the district crown before advancing to their first-ever Class 3 state final four. They went 3-3 in pool play and finished fourth.

"When Perryville became that threat and someone that we really had to contend with I think it really got in our girls' heads," Stroup said. "When we lost that first district game, the next year's group would really get nervous because Perryville was really amped up to play against us. It's kind of been a mental issue for us."

Notre Dame coach Tara Stroup and players celebrate after winning the second set of last season's Class 3 District 1 championship match.

Notre Dame's senior-laden team finished the season 32-3 a year ago -- with all three losses coming against Perryville.

Stroup admitted that her team has struggled mentally to deal with close three-set losses to Perryville over the past three years but said this year's team doesn't feel the pressure to beat the Pirates in rivalry games.

"Leadership is an issue," Stroup said. "We haven't named captains yet, we don't have a set starting rotation, and that's OK because we're young. They don't have that memory of this big rivalry or whatever. They just kind of view them as a good team and say, 'Let's play.' You never know what these girls can do at a young age in close games."

Mirly said his team will continue to play the same way.

"It seems like every game is close and comes right down to the end," Mirly said. "As far as having an edge over them, I'm not sure that's true, but our girls live for that moment and shine in the spotlight. We work hard in practice, and I try to teach them the right way to do things so they can make big plays in big spots."

Mirly said in a big game against Notre Dame he doesn't like to "over-coach."

"In a game it is kind of fun to just sit back and watch them play as a coach," Mirly said. "At that point I feel like I've coached them enough, and it's their time to show what they can do. But you have to coach more in big games like districts, especially when you're down 13-7."

Perryville coach Dave Mirly and players celebrate after the Pirates' three-set victory over host Notre Dame in last season's district championship match. (Missourian file photo)

Last year, Perryville captured its third straight district title with a 25-17, 15-25, 25-21 victory over host Notre Dame.

The Pirates trailed by as many as six points in the third set after a hitting error by Spears gave Notre Dame a 13-7 lead.

Perryville fought back thanks in part to Spears, who had five kills and a block during Perryville's final 10 points.

Mirly and Stroup know their teams are good, but they agree that Dexter may be the better team in Class 3 District 1 this year. Doniphan, Fredericktown and Kennett round out the field.

"We all three have good programs and teams," Stroup said. "I feel like for a very long time all of us will be contenders for districts and state."

Over the summer all three teams played against each other in a tournament.

Dexter defeated both Notre Dame and Perryville twice to capture the tournament championship, but Stroup said the summer tournament didn't mean much because players from each team were missing.

However, all three teams will meet up in the VolleyballFest tournament at Notre Dame on Sept. 5 and 6. Class 3 District 1 semifinals and finals traditionally have been played on the same night, making avoiding a difficult semifinal match a priority.

"The advantage will be huge for whoever gets that number one seed in the district," Stroup said. "That tournament will be a good indication of how each team stands in the district. I think it's safe to say whoever comes out of that alive would be the stronger team."