Mount Notre Dame volleyball falls to Magnificat in Division I state semifinals
FAIRBORN, Ohio – When Michael Crofton took over as head coach of the Mount Notre Dame volleyball team, he was surprised that the Cougars had more state championships (10) than Girls Greater Catholic League titles.
That speaks to the annual depth and power of the GGCL in volleyball, and Greater Cincinnati in general.
After surviving the gauntlet of the local regional tournament, a young Cougars lineup looked to repeat as state champs after winning the crown last year. But they had trouble keeping up with their opponents from Rocky River Magnificat Thursday afternoon.
MORE: MND wins regional title over Ursuline.
The teams were mirror images on the court, with identical navy blue jerseys. Many of their fans in the student section were wearing the same shade of light blue, which MND calls Columbia Blue and Magnificat calls Carolina Blue after the UNC Tar Heels.
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Unfortunately for the Cougars, the Blue Streaks had a more versatile, veteran lineup, and Magnificat defeated MND 3-0 (25-19, 25-19, 25-16) in an OHSAA Division I state semifinal at Wright State University’s Nutter Center.
Magnificat, 22-6 overall and ranked sixth in the state coaches poll, advances to Saturday’s final. MND, ranked fourth, finishes 18-10.
The Cougars had an injury-plagued season, with three key players gone for the year by the first scrimmage, and other setbacks cropping up throughout the year.
“That’s been our definition,” Crofton said. “We talked about adversity. You can let adversity define you, destroy you, or help strengthen you. That was our drive throughout the year. This was our goal: To get here. It wasn’t about our record during the regular season or whether or not we won the conference.”
Said junior Katie Wilking: “We never had the full team that we were expecting. We had to learn to play as a team each week. We always had new players. We didn’t have a set lineup and we had to adjust.”
The loss marked the end of an outstanding career for MND senior hitter Carly Hendrickson.
The University of Florida commit had 19 kills and nine digs in her final match, ending her season with 462 kills despite missing eight matches in September.
She finished with nearly 1,600 career kills.
Wilking and senior Maggie Butkovich had five kills each, but they were facing a Magnificat team with a strong blocking defense at the net and a more balanced offense.
Magnificat had five players record either six or seven kills and had eight total blocks for points vs. MND with three.
Magnificat had 35 kills against only 11 errors but forced MND into 25 errors against 33 kills.
“We knew that their strength was the outside (Hendrickson),” Magnificat head coach Megan Green said. “We knew their ball control could be a little off sometimes, and we attacked that with our serving. We knew if we could move the ball around, make their team tired, keep them out-of-system by keeping their blockers guessing, that was going to really help us.”
Said Crofton: “We had a good game plan coming in but they executed really well. Our serves weren’t as aggressive as they had been lately and they were able to stay in-system against us. We had trouble handing the speed they came with. (Magnificat) played great. Hats off to them. They kept putting the pressure on us the whole time.”
Magnificat had 10 aces to only three for the Cougars. Senior libero Abbey Havrilla, a Mercer signee, had 11 digs for the Blue Streaks.
The teams went back-and-forth in the first set. With Magnificat leading 20-18, the Blue Streaks finished the set on a 5-1 run, with the points coming from 5-foot-11 sophomore Sophia Anghilante and setter Lauren Yacobucci dominating at the net with either blocks or kills.
In set two, MND led 13-12 before Magnificat went on a 9-2 run with five different players scoring points.
In set three, Magnificat went on a 5-0 run to lead 11-6, with three different players scoring points.
Butkovich, Jessica Black and Marlo Santoro are the graduating seniors. Hendrickson and Kenzie Cogan posted nine digs apiece. Audrey Armbruster had 29 assists.
The state title defense came up short, but the Cougars can appreciate the journey to overcome all the injuries.
“When I came back here to the program, I saw that they have more state titles than conference titles,” Crofton said. “That is crazy to think about, but it’s all about the tournament. That’s what we tried to instill in these kids. They worked hard all year. It’s been a journey for them, but they always trusted the process and believed they could make it back here and survive a really tough region in Cincinnati.”