Volleyball Roundup: Notre Dame crushes St. Vincent, Jackson rolls SEMO Conference competition

The Notre Dame Bulldogs girls volleyball team defeated the St. Vincent Indians in straight sets on Wednesday at Notre Dame Regional High School.

The Bulldogs were all over St. Vincent from the first serve, dominating the Indians by scores of 25-8, 25-16 and 25-16.

Notre Dame jumped out to a 6-0 lead in set number one with each point off the serve of Lyla Martin. St. Vincent used a timeout but unfortunately for the Indians, it did not help as the Bulldogs cruised to the win.

Set two was the same story although the Indians made a run near the end and forced Notre Dame into a timeout to talk things over.

Set number three was when St. Vincent came out strong and built a small lead over the Bulldogs. Notre Dame would regroup quickly and quiet any comeback attempts.

Notre Dame head coach Meredith Brinkmeyer said she was pleased with how consistently her team played.

“It was definitely a great team effort. The energy that they carried pretty consistently throughout all three sets is something that we've kind of really been working on along with finishing in three sets,” Brinkmeyer said. “We played St. Genevieve last night and we really focused on that. So we wanted to carry that into tonight, and I think the girls did an awesome job keeping their focus the entire evening.”

Notre Dame’s offense was led by Courtney Tatum with 17 kills and Claudia Jones with 37 assists. On defense, Lyla Martin led the way with 24 digs.

St. Vincent hosts Jefferson (Festus) on Thursday while Notre Dame heads to Jackson the same day for a much-anticipated match with the Indians in red and black. Brinkmeyer said she and the team are looking forward to the game.

“We just need to carry the momentum from our three games already this week, and especially this win tonight, into tomorrow,” Brinkmeyer said. “We know it's always going to be a fun game. It's always a fun rivalry game and we know we’re going to get a good game out of their teams.”

Jackson continues to roll in SEMO Conference

The Jackson Indians volleyball team defeated the Cape Central Tigers three sets to zero on Tuesday at Cape Central High School.

Despite the 3-0 set score the Indians had to fight for each set with scores of 25-19, 25-22 and 25-18. The Tigers coming off a successful weekend in the Dig for Life tournament played Jackson as close as they have in several years.

Indians head coach David Mirly said he was proud of how his team managed the win but also complimented the Tigers on playing a tough game.

“This is the best I've seen Cape look in a very long time. Coach McCauley-Perdue is doing a wonderful job over there with them. They were not intimidated by us, they passed better than I've ever seen a Cape team pass and they served really well. So kudos to everything they’re doing over there,” Mirly said. “On the other side of the net, we didn't pass exceptionally well, but Cape’s serves caused us a lot of problems. We had to fight, scratch and claw for points, and it wasn't easy. I'm really proud of my team because we could have easily lost this game, and we kept finding ways to win.”

Jackson was led on offense by Katy St. John and Lauren Dorey with 13 and 12 kills, respectively. Dorey and Ava Wessell helped the offense with 15 and 10 assists while Amery Winston led the defense with 15 digs.

The Indians host another conference opponent on Thursday in Notre Dame which is always a close matchup. Mirly said the Bulldogs play his team well every season and his team is excited about the game.

“I feel like the best game that Notre Dame plays every single year is against Jackson. So we know it's going to be a tough match and it’s going to be a big battle,” Mirly said. “We finally get to have practice tomorrow, we haven't practiced in over a week with all the tournaments and stuff, so we got some things we need to work on. We're gonna have a great practice tomorrow and we'll be ready on Thursday.”

The Tigers will have nearly a week off before hosting the Rams of Scott City on Monday.

Around Southeast Missouri

Scott City defeated Bernie in four sets (22-25, 25-11, 25-18, 25-18) behind Lilyan Landis' 19 kills, Layla Estes' 32 digs and Ramsey Spinks' 50 assists. The Rams improve to 5-3-2 and will host Meadow Heights on Thursday.

Oak Ridge defeated Zalma in straight sets (25-11, 25-7, 25-15) on Tuesday. The Blue Jays were led by Reagan Howe's 12 kills and Kaelyn Deckerd's 11 kills, six aces, and 13 digs. Kenadie Ward dished out 27 assists and Jayleigh Price had a team-high 14 digs. The Blue Jays also defeated Meadow Heights in straight sets (25-22, 25-23, 26-24) on Wednesday behind Howe's 16 kills, Ward's 29 assists, and Kinsley Bogenpohl's 29 digs.

Perryville fell to Windsor in four sets (15-25, 24-26, 25-22, 18-25) at home on Tuesday. Ellie Gerler had seven kills and four blocks for the Pirates, while Charli Gerler contributed six kills with five blocks, and Maria Mattingly added five kills. Paige Berkbigler led the team with 19 assists and 11 digs followed by 10 digs from Jewel Riney.

Saxony Lutheran defeated Woodland in four sets (25-19, 25-17, 22-25, 25-16) on the road at Tuesday. Woodland was led by Mallary Barks's 12 kills and Makayla Altenthal's 10 kills. Carrie Long had a team-high 17 digs and Dezi Braswell dished out 31 assists with 11 digs.