By Terry Boehmker
NKyTribune sports activities reporter
Notre Dame superior to the semifinals of the state volleyball tournament for the fourth consecutive year with a 3-0 win over Bowling Green in a quarterfinal match on Friday at George Rogers Clark High School.
The Pandas (31-7) will play North Oldham (26-11) at 1:30 p.m. Saturday. The different semifinal between Louisville Assumption (38-4) and Lexington Catholic (33-4) is ready for 11 a.m. The winners will meet in the championship final at 7:30 p.m.
During the common season, Notre Dame defeated North Oldham, 3-1, in September. The Mustangs have gained 15 of 16 matches since then with the one loss coming in opposition to Beechwood, a staff Notre Dame beat twice this season.
Notre Dame outscored Bowling Green (38-4), 25-16, 25-14, 25-17 in Friday’s quarterfinal sweep. The Pandas had a .352 hitting share with 11 kills by Grace Portwood, 10 by Teagan Kondik and 9 by Audrey Dyas pacing the assault. The different staff leaders have been Portwood and Ellie Osterkamp with 13 digs every and Lizzy Larkins with 20 assists.
Notre Dame was state champion in 2022, state runner-up in 2023 and made it to the state semifinals final season. Assumption knocked off the Pandas in the final two state tournaments and gained a daily season match between the 2 groups.
The Pandas have a 10-13 report in earlier state championship matches with seven of their 13 loses coming to Assumption. They’re making a run at this year’s state title below new head coaches Madison Salkowski and Hannah Colvin.
Scott head soccer coach resigns after two seasons with staff
Justin Franklin has resigned as Scott High School’s head soccer coach after his groups posted data of 3-7 and 2-8 the final two seasons and missed the Class 5A playoffs.
The final time the Eagles had a successful season was 2021 after they completed 8-5 below former head coach Eric Turner. He resigned after the 2022 season and the staff had an interim head coach for one year earlier than hiring Franklin, who remained dwelling in Carroll County.
In an internet publish, Franklin stated the day by day commute to show and coach at Scott had turn out to be an “impossibility” for him.
“Over the last two seasons we have broken offensive records, grown the roster, inspired facility upgrades and began the challenging process of developing underclassmen.” Franklin stated. “There is no doubt that the program is in a better place today than is was two years ago.”
This year, Scott averaged the 349 yards and 30.8 factors per sport with senior quarterback Trey Cook working the offense. He completed among the many state leaders with 251.3 passing yards per sport.
But the protection gave up 42 factors or extra in 5 of seven losses and the Eagles didn’t earn a playoff berth for the third straight year after going 0-4 in district seeding video games in opposition to Boone County, Conner, Cooper and Dixie Heights.
Notre Dame graduate named high defensive participant in soccer
Notre Dame graduate Natalie Bain, a senior defender on the Xavier University girls’s soccer staff, was named Defensive Player of the Year in the Big East Conference for the second consecutive year.
Bain is a four-year starter for the 14-3-2 Musketeers, who will face Georgetown in the Big East championship match set for midday Sunday on ESPN+. She helped Xavier publish shutouts in eight of their final 13 matches, together with a 7-0 win over UConn in the convention semifinals on Thursday.
In October, Bain was amongst 24 gamers who participated in the U.S. Soccer under-23 girls’s nationwide staff coaching camp. Prior to this season, she was ranked No. 8 on TopDrawerSoccer’s high 100 faculty gamers checklist.
Bain was named first-team all-state and USA Today National Player of the Year after her senior season at Notre Dame when the Pandas gained the 2021 state tournament. The staff completed with a 28-0-1 report and allowed solely four objectives. In the championship final, Bain scored the lone aim in her staff’s 1-0 win over South Oldham.