Notre Dame Varsity Volleyball took their second tournament win of the season, going undefeated to take the Battle Creek Lakeview Invite.
The Irish started pool play with a 27-25, 25-18 win over Schoolcraft. Gabrielle Shilling and Maddy Chinn led the offense with 10 and 15 kills each while Lauren Burnick dished out 19 assists. Natalie Risi served up 9 points and Taylor Raiola led all defenders with 10 digs while also adding 7 kills.
In the second match against Portage Northern, Notre Dame had to battle from 6 points down to take the openings set 27-25 before taking the second set 25-12. Risi had 11 points, including a pair of aces, to go along with 7 kills while Chinn had 9 kills, to go with 3 blocks and 10 digs.
In the final match of pool play the Irish topped Cadillac 25-13, 25-13. Raiola served 14 points, including 7 aces, and added 5 kills to lead the way for Notre Dame. Risi had 12 digs and Shilling added 9 kills in the win.
The Irish and Cadillac played once again in the quarterfinal round with Notre Dame coming out on top again 25-11, 26-24. A balanced offensive attack was led by Raiola and Risi with 7 kills and Shilling and Chinn with 6 each.
The semifinal match with Temperance Bedford saw 17 ties or lead changes in the opening set before the Irish came away with a 25-23 win. Notre Dame would go on to take the second set 25-17 to advance to the final. Maria Famularo led all scorers with 10 serving points and Burnick collected 31 assists. A balanced attack was once again on display as the Irish got kills from Chinn (14), Raiola (6), Risi (5), Shilling (4) and Morgan Verheyen (4).
The championship match saw Notre Dame, ranked number one in Class B, take on Bronson, ranked number on in Class C. It took three sets but the Irish would come away with a 25-15, 22-25, 15-8 win. Chinn collected 21 kills and 2 blocks to lead Notre Dame. Famularo scored 9 from the service line and added 12 digs while Olivia Heming had 10 digs. Verheyen had her best output of the day with 8 kills and Risi finished a fine day with 10 points from the serving line, 11 kills and 11 blocks.