Notre Dame Prep sweeps postseason rival North Branch to win 11th regional title
ORTONVILLE – The Pontiac Notre Dame Prep Fighting Irish claimed their 11th regional championship with a 27-25, 25-9. 25-17 dismantling of the North Branch Lady Broncos Thursday night in a D2 regional volleyball final at Brandon High School.
Notre Dame Prep led the first game from start to finish, but the Fighting Irish could not shake the Lady Broncos, who hung close throughout. The Fighting Irish briefly led by four points on two occasions, but for the most part, the Broncos hung within two or three points all set, including five ties. Notre Dame eventually closed it out at 27-25 when North Branch fired wide.
Early in the second game, Notre Dame Prep got their game into high gear. A controversial call went against Notre Dame at 4-3 Fighting Irish, but that just seemed to spark them, as they reeled off the next six points to extend their lead to 10-3 and the rout was on.
+30 Pontiac Notre Dame vs. North Branch regional volleyball photo gallery
On this night, Notre Dame Prep did it with defense. The Fighting Irish were able to key on North Branch’s two or three big hitters that were getting all the kill attempts – and Notre Dame Prep largely shut them down, routinely digging it out tough shots to begin setting up their own offense.
“Our defenders are tremendous. We owe them a lot of the success that we’ve had this year,” Notre Dame Prep head coach Betty Wroubel said. “Certainly, we have to put the ball down. But our defenders keep the ball off the floor and give us an opportunity to be in any game against any team. I’m put them up against anyone. They’re really good defenders. I’m proud of how the team is gelling at this time.”
As usual, the Fighting Irish spread the stats around both offensively and defensively. On the defensive side, Notre Dame Prep was led by Livy Kowalkowski’s 16 digs. Jessica Bloom had 11 digs, and Allison Berent added eight digs.
Alyssa Borellis (5), Pontiac Notre Dame Prep, makes a kill over the outstretched arms of Breann June, North Branch, during regional final volleyball action at Brandon High School Thursday, Nov. 14, 2019. The Irish downed North Branch 3-0. (LARRY McKEE – For MediaNews Group)
(LARRY McKEE – For Media News Group)
Offensively, the Fighting Irish were powered by a big night from Alyssa Borellis who got hot and stayed and that way all night, finishing with a team leading 18 kills
“She can do that game in and game out,” Wroubel said. “But if we do that game in and game out, other teams are going to key on her. So our key really is to stay balanced, and when we need the point we know who we can go to.”
Sophia Sudzina added 11 kills for the Fighting Irish, and Bianca Giglio and Theresa Carrier chipped in eight kills each.
“We do have multiple leaders on the floor. But it was not just one person that did everything and that forced everyone to pick up their own roles and really be a part of the team, which makes the team really a team,” senior Emily Mohr said.
With the win, Notre Dame Prep improves to 47-10-2 and advances to the state quarterfinals at St. Clair Community College next Tuesday. The Fighting Irish will take on Warren Regina at 6:00 p.m.
“It means a lot because I feel like in the beginning we were down on ourselves. We didn’t know how far we’d get. But then we came together as a team, and we worked our butts off and finally made it to where we wanted to get,” Borellis said.
November 14, 2019