Scott City overwhelms Notre Dame

~ The Rams posted a 25-14, 25-16 sweep, dropping the Bulldogs below .500.

Scott City volleyball coach Carl Ritter Jr. was not sure what to expect out of his team heading into its third match of the season Wednesday against at Notre Dame, which had already played eight matches.

Ritter got his answer early in the match, as Scott City dominated the Bulldogs 25-14, 25-16 in a resounding sweep.

"I was a little concerned with that," Ritter said. "They've played some good teams. Their record is 4-5 but, my gosh, look who they've played. This is only our third game so I was a little concerned if we'd be able to play with the kind of intensity we'd need, but we did."

Notre Dame was coming off a weekend in which the Bulldogs finished second to St. Vincent in the Notre Dame Volleyballfest. The Bulldogs' earlier losses this season came to perennial powers Festus and Farmington.

With the loss to the Rams, the Bulldogs fell to 4-5 and left coach Tara Stroup searching for answers.

"We're fairly streaky," Stroup said. "We played really well against Farmington, Festus and Bell City, and then not so well against Bernie and tonight. So I don't know. I wish I could figure out what it is.

"I do think this team has a lot of potential. When we put it together we can be really good. Hopefully that happens soon."

Notre Dame led 1-0 in the first game and 2-0 in the second game, the only leads it held all night.

Scott City's largest run in the first game was five points, but the Rams were able to control the game by keeping Notre Dame out of rhythm.

The Bulldogs had trouble passing off Scott City's serve, and seemed to have players running into each other or allowing the ball to simply fall to the court. Notre Dame's only real weapon in the first game was outside hitter Ashley Nenninger, but even Nenninger's moments were few and far between.

"We played a freshman, Brooke Simpson, and she did a tremendous job at the net, blocking," Ritter said. "We slowed Nenninger down. All the kids played well. They played as a team, as a unit."

Scott City setters Kristen Yetman and Kacie Ritter made the right choices with their passes, and Scott City's hitters were able to find holes in Notre Dame's blocking.

After falling behind 2-0 in the second game, Scott City scored 11 of the next 12 points and never looked back. The lead never dipped below seven points the rest of the game. A late four-point Notre Dame spree, its longest of the match, made the second game score a little closer than it really was.

"I told them all season we've got to have a very aggressive offense and mix it up at the net, and we did," Ritter said.

Kacie Ritter finished with 13 assists and four blocks. Jenni Heisserer led the Rams with seven kills. Simpson had three blocks and three kills.

"This is the best we've played all season," Carl Ritter said.

Meridith Medlin had 12 assists and four kills for the Bulldogs. Nenninger had 10 kills.

"We're just not playing well," Stroup said. "We had an extreme lack of communication [tonight]."

Both teams will be back in action Friday at the B.A. Sports Volleyball Classic.