Dexter, Missouri - The Lady Cats gave their audience a great show on Monday evening as they battled it out with the Notre Dame Lady Bulldogs for a fantastic two set finish winning 25-15, 28-26.
The first set the Cats and Dogs tied six times before Dexter scored three straight points to move ahead 12-9. The Lady Dogs cut the deficit to two points before the Lady Cats exploded and scored the next eight points for the win.
The second set proved to be more challenging Notre Dame was not going to go down easy a second time. Blocking was the key to success against them.
“Blocking was huge because they have some big, tall girls and you have got to get a formidable block,” commented Dexter head volleyball coach Carmen Morgan. “It’s our first line of defense and we try to say ‘we own the net’. I try to get them to believe that and we have got to stay focused on it, but it was huge to get those final two blocks in the second set.”
Dexter took a 26-25 lead on a block by Hannah Thurmon. Notre Dame tied it back up before another great block by Thurmon propelled Dexter to 27-26. The match ended with the Bulldogs unable to return a ball.
Krysten Garrison tallied 12 kills for Dexter. Thurmon added six and Lexie Barnes recorded three kills.
Thurmon recorded three blocks, Addie Kruse tallied two blocks and Barnes and Garrison each had one block for the Lady Cats.
Sophomore Bailee Williams had a team-high 11 assists for Dexter.
“I was really proud of my girls because we have been known to play a little tight from time to time and they didn’t do that tonight,” stated Morgan. “We wanted to go out and mix things up a little bit, stay focused and see how things came out. That was our goal and we did that tonight.”
“A big key for us tonight was our passing was about 90% better than it was last Friday night,” continued Morgan. “When we have good passes we are able to run our offense. We wanted to stay on the offensive and our passing allowed us to do so tonight.”
“Notre Dame missed some serves tonight at key times. They are a better team than what you saw out there tonight,” stated Morgan
This was the third time in the 2015 season that these two rivalries have met. Dexter beat Notre Dame 25-19, 26-28, 25-23 in a semifinal of the Notre Dame Volleyballfest on September 5th then Notre Dame defeated Dexter a week later 27-25, 25-20 in the championship game of the 48-team Dig for Life Classic in Cape Girardeau.
“Every time we have seen each other it has been a battle,” commented Morgan. “Their coach and I like playing each other because our kids get after it and we need to play teams like each other, especially this time of year.”
Dexter 24-4-2 will conclude their regular season of play on Thursday, October 15th when they host Perryville at the Bearcat Event Center. It’s also Senior Night for the Lady Cats.
“We are going to play one game at a time. We start preparing tomorrow,” Morgan said. “We’ve got Perryville on Thursday night and hopefully we will be in the same mode, not up and down. Tonight we were where we needed to be for October 11th.”
This will be the final season for three Lady Cat volleyball team members. Kendall Adams, Julia Hahn, and Brittany Brown will play for the last time in the Bearcat Event Center.
“It’s a reflective night for the seniors” noted Morgan. “These girls realize their season is coming to a close. It’s the last time they will play at home in the Bearcat Event Center.”
“I started with them when they were a freshman,” continued Morgan. “Out of the whole crew they are the only three still with me as seniors. I have a soft spot in my heart for those girls. They stuck it out and are very vital to the team. They all play a key role for us.”
