Class 3: Notre Dame-O'Hara

Notre Dame has just stepped onto the court to warm up for its second match in pool play here at the volleyball final four at Municipal Auditorium in Kansas City.

The Bulldogs, who are 0-2 in pool play, will face 2-0 O'Hara. For those of you not familiar with the structure of the state tournament. The four teams in each class play each other in a round-robin format today. The teams only play two games per match, even if there is a split. The records, then, are kept by games rather than by matches.

Game one:

Notre Dame will serve first.

2-1 O'Hara. Huge/big/hard kill out of O'Hara's middle.

4-1 O'Hara. Ace for the Celtics.

6-2 O'Hara. Notre Dame gets a sideout but O'Hara sent one off their block and out of the bounds on the next point.

9-2 O'Hara. Timeout Notre Dame after they get called for being out of rotation. The down ref felt like the setter wasn't positioned between the right back-row hitters while pushed up at the net. At least that's what I got out of the conversation...

9-4 O'Hara. The Bulldogs sent an attack off the top of the O'Hara block.

11-4 O'Hara. A tip over a ND double block gets down.

11-6 O'Hara. Lindsay Strieker and Kate Edwards combine on a stuff for Notre Dame.

13-7 O'Hara. ND gets a sideout after an O'Hara hitting error.

14-7 O'Hara. Strieker sends serve long.

16-8 O'Hara. A great get for Notre Dame goes for naught as O'Hara is able to get an outside kill. The Bulldogs are facing some high-quality competition tonight, and so far just haven't been able to match the level of play on the other side.

21-9 O'Hara. O'Hara's impressive middle Tori Hurtt (Two t's!) just sent one off Megan Dohogne's block and followed it up by smashing an overpass.

23-10 O'Hara. This time it's a tip from Hurtt that beats the Bulldogs.

25-11 O'Hara. A hitting error ends the game for ND.

Meghan Dohogne tells her teammates, "We'll get the next one." as the Bulldogs switch sides.

Game two:

1-0 O'Hara. The Bulldogs played a good point but got in the net at the end.

3-0 O'Hara. Another good point that included a block from Meghan Dohogne, but O'Hara recovers and gets a kill on its next attack.

6-1 O'Hara. A kill from Hurtt on the outside this time. She is a really terrific volleyball player, who also happen to be 6-foot-1.

8-1 O'Hara. Hurtt with a stuff.

9-1 O'Hara. Hurt with a stuff of Dohogne.

9-2 O'Hara. The Celtics' hitting error gives ND the point.

9-3 O'Hara. Dohogne and Allyson Bradshaw combine for some revenge on Hurtt and stuff her on the outside.

11-4 O'Hara. The Celtics cheering section, which is bigger than Notre Dame's, has tried to start the "We've got spirit" back-and-forth twice and gotten nothing but silence in return...

13-5 O'Hara. Notre Dame timeout. The Bulldogs are looking a little frustrated at this point.

I should mention that O'Hara is in Kansas City for those that don't know. Obviously it's a little bit shorter trip for its students.

16-6 O'Hara. ND out of rotation.

17-6 O'Hara. The Celtics have tipped successfully right behind the ND blocks a few times now, including on the last play.

17-7 O'Hara. Bradshaw with a good swing and kill from the back side.

19-8 O'Hara. Strieker in the net. She has a lot to handle in the front row right now.

22-10 O'Hara. Alyssa Ruopp back to serve.

22-11 O'Hara. The ND block gets Hurtt again. This time on the outside. (And by "gets" I means stuffs...that wasn't a play on words. Haha.)

24-13 O'Hara. Hurtt with a kill.

24-14 O'Hara. Bradshaw with a kill to keep ND alive.

25-14 O'Hara. Match ends with a lift call on ND.

The Bulldogs drop to 0-4 in pool play. It's looks like they'll be playing for third place tomorrow evening, but they still have one more match left tonight. They are scheduled to finish up pool play against Logan-Rogersville at around 9 p.m.