Notre Dame Volleyball capped a historic season with a 25-16, 25-17, 28-26 victory over Lake Odessa Lakewood to win the program’s third state title in 11 seasons. The Irish won the Class B title without dropping a set throughout the tournament.
The win marked the 53rd consecutive victory for the Irish, who did not drop a match since August 26th or a set since October 14th. Notre Dame also broke a school record for wins in the season with 64, topping the previous record of 62 in 2013.
Lakewood gave the Irish all they could handle in the third as the Vikings led as many as 6 points, but Notre Dame battled back to eventually take the set. Natalie Risi continued her strong performance, hitting .471 in the final match with 17 kills (including the match point), 12 digs, and 6 blocks. Senior and four-year starter Gabi Shilling hit .632 with 12 kills and 8 blocks. Also contributing to the balanced Notre Dame attack were Taylor Raiola (3 kills, 5 digs and 2 blocks, Morgan Verheyen (12 kills), Lauren Burnick (42 assists), Maddy Chinn (9 kills, 7 digs and 3 blocks) and Maria Famularo (10 digs).
On the year the Irish played and beat over 25 state-ranked teams in Classes A and B and came back to avenge both early season losses by defeating Lake Orion and Mercy. Notre Dame will lose Burnick, Audrey Damman, Olivia Heming, Morgan Holycross, Destiney Sandle and Shilling to graduation.