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Notre Dame Academy beats Toledo St. Ursula third straight time to win first district crown

October 30, 2007

By Jim Jicha

When Toledo Notre Dame Academy defeated Toledo St. Ursula in a City League contest last season, Eagle fans hoped it marked a changing of the guard. Both the City League and the northwest Division I district had been ruled by St. Ursula since in 2000. But Notre Dame, not yet known for volleyball, had been quietly building under the direction of Coach Scott Mattera.

That change of guard was derailed, however, when Central Catholic upended the Eagles in the City League tournament, which was again won by St. Ursula. And in the 2006 district final St. Ursula nipped Notre Dame 23-25, 21-25, 25-15, 25-22, 15-13.

Well, the change of the guard has finally happened. Notre Dame again beat St. Ursula, in five, in this year’s City League contest. Then the Eagles won the City League tournament for the first time since 1983, downing the Arrows in four in the semifinal.

Last Saturday evening at Perrysburg High School, Notre Dame Academy won their first ever district crown with a convincing 25-18, 25-17, 25-13 third win over St. Ursula.

The win reflected a great team effort, and Eagle Coach Scott Mattera was gushing with praise afterward. “I’m so proud of these kids” he said, adding that they were nervous coming in but “turned their nervous energy into focus”.

Mattera attributed the team effort to a comeback against top ranked D-III power Huron in their last regular season match. Notre Dame was down 0-2, and in the huddle Mattera told the players “we’re trying to win this individually…when we’ve won a big game can you name an MVP? You can’t.” Notre Dame rallied to beat the Tigers in five.

Saturday’s win may have been in straight sets, but it wasn’t easy.

The two teams battled on equal terms much of game one. The Eagles scored the first two on a kill by Mary Delaney and a termination by sophomore outside sensation Paige Roback. But Florida State recruit Alliya Drzewiecki pounded two line drives for St. Ursula to tie at 2 and 3, and six more ties would ensue to 9-9. Arrow middle Hannah Boggus spiked three points.

After another tie at 11, an off speed cross court hit by sophomore Madchen Petrie put St. Ursula atop, and the Arrows kept a step ahead to a 16-14 lead.

At that juncture, 6’0” Eagle junior Elisa Duran scored a kill, and Delaney and setter Jordan Goad teamed up on two blocks to put Notre Dame back on top. Duran served an ace, and the Arrows spiked into the net. Notre Dame obliged with a net spike of its own and St. Ursula closed to 19-18 behind a double block by freshman middle Maggie Burnham and middle hitter Maggie Naayers after Brooke Beavers dove to dig a Notre Dame block.

Then, providing a hint of things to come, the Eagles blew the game open. Outside Junior outside Jessie Batanian streaked a line drive for a point, and Goad served up two aces. Amanda Fioritto teamed with Delaney on a block and followed with a kill that ended an intense volley. Goad aced the game point.

The start of game two still didn’t seem out of the ordinary. St. Ursula scored the first two with freshman setter Veronica Zimmerman serving an ace. Notre Dame tied at 5, and scored three straight to go up 8-6. The Arrows retied it, but Notre Dame slowly crept ahead thereafter on mini-runs of 2, 2, 3 and 2 to lead 17-12. Delaney and Batanian scored kills, and Goad converted a teammate’s too close to the net pass with a great running dump. She also converted an Arrow overpass into a kill.

Boggus scored three kills to keep St. Ursula in it, but after a net call on the Arrows the score was 20-15. On the next volley, a tip by Goad was blocked over but out, and Goad won the next point with a great pop over the defenders into the left corner. The Eagles then outlasted St. Ursula through ragged play on both sides with all points coming on errors.

St. Ursula drew first blood in game three on an ace by Kim Juhnke, but Notre Dame was lights out from then on. Fioritto put the Eagles on the board with a kill. Roback made some difficult side arm spikes to keep an intense volley alive until an Arrow player finally touched the net. Delaney and Fioritto blocked Drzewiecki.