This is “Dots,” VolleyballMag.com’s weekly look at 10 things in high school volleyball, past or present, that interest me and hopefully will interest you. Look for Dots every week until the last high school state championship in November:
• On Thursday, as they do before the traditional two-day Asics Challenge in Chicago, Mother McAuley and Marist each hosted a Kentucky powerhouse in a “friendly” match. Assumption won an overtime Game 1, 28-26, on its way to a three set win over the Mighty Macs. Marist rallied from a set down to get the best of defending champion Notre Dame Academy in three sets.
Two days later, perhaps fueled by those Thursday losses, Mother McAuley (21-4) and Notre Dame (24-3) both made the final at the 24-team Asics Challenge, one of the very best events in the Midwest year in and year out, with teams from Illinois, Michigan, Kentucky, Iowa, New York and Nebraska. McAuley won, 25-20, 25-18, to repeat as champion. Senior Ellie White had 14 kills and three aces and libero Sam Falk was credited with 29 digs in the sweep. Middles Ellery Rees and Kiera Ohse, OH Sydney Buchanan and RS Mary Claire Deacy also stepped up big on the weekend.
“I felt like every match we got better as a team,” said Mother McAuley coach Jen DeJarld. “We’ve been struggling to sustain a high level from start to finish and that was one of our goals for the weekend.”
DeJarld said that it wasn’t the loss to Assumption that motivated her team, but a loss the Thursday prior to Marist. The Mighty Macs got their revenge in the quarterfinals before taking out Omaha Skutt Catholic in the semifinals.
“We definitely were happy for the opportunity to redeem ourselves,” DeJarld added.
Notre Dame reached the championship final by knocking off Michigan’s North Branch in a quarterfinal and edged Assumption, 29-27 in the third, in the semifinals, squaring the season series with the Rockets at a win apiece. The two teams are slated to play one more time in the regular season, on Oct. 12, before the District playoffs commence.
• Saint Francis of Mountain View, California, placed 13th out of 64 teams at the Durango Fall Classic two Saturdays ago. The Lancers fell victim to an Assumption rally during the Championship Qualifying Round, then lost to Xavier College Prep of Phoenix in the first round of the Silver Bracket before…
Click Here to Read the Full Original Article at Volleyballmag.com…