Cathedral defeated Heritage Christian in dramatic fashion on Thursday, October 10, to win the Indianapolis City Alliance Tournament. The Lady Irish squared off against the Lady Eagles in the Championship match for the second straight year. With the win the Lady Irish improve their season record to 14-12 and enter post-season play on a positive note and 3-game winning streak.
Cathedral won set one by a comfortable margin 25-18 to establish an early 1-0 match lead. Cathedral delivered strong performances in sets two and three only to be turned away by Heritage Christian by the closest of margins, 24-26 and 23-25, to find themselves down 1-2 in the match. Cathedral Coach Mary Ording Hemer made an adjustment to the rotation, “spun the dial”, to achieve a better matchup against the capable Heritage Christian hitters in set four. The Lady Irish responded with resilience, grit, and fortitude to post a statement win 25-16 to pull even in the match 2-2, regain crucial momentum, and force a decisive set five. The Lady Irish surged ahead by at least 2 points on three occasions early in the final set only to see the Lady Eagles pull even each time. After the last such knotted score at 9-9, the Lady Irish, who never relinquished the lead in the final set, pulled away to win the set 15-11, take the match 3-2, and claim their 7th successive City Alliance Championship. (25-18, 24-26, 23-25, 25-16, 15-11)
On offense the Lady Irish outscored the Lady Eagles by a comfortable 75-58 attack margin with junior Sarah Casper and senior Mia Dittoe leading the way with 35 and 22 kills, respectively. The triple-threat of seniors Anna Trieloff, Jojo Suppiger, and Anna Neale contributed an additional 7, 4, and 2 kills, respectively. The offensive onslaught was possible due to the steady hands of senior Mae Hedrick, who handed out 37 assists, and freshman Mallory Dills, who delivered an additional 28 assists and 8 kills. On defense juniors Lucia Corsaro and Sarah Casper anchored the back row with 38 and 20 digs, respectively, with seniors Mae Hedrick and Jami Hansen and freshman Mallory Dills chipping in an additional 10, 6, and 10 digs, respectively. Lucia Corsaro, Sarah Casper, and Jami Hansen also combined to handle 87 of the 95 serve receives with 41, 27, and 19, respectively. For the match the Lady Irish had 14 assisted blocks, 6 by Jojo Suppiger and 4 by Mallory Dills; 3 service aces, one each by Lucia Corsaro, Jami Hansen, and Anna Trieloff; and served the ball well as a team with 110 of 116 attempts finding the mark, led by the steady aim of Lucia Corsaro and Jami Hansen striking for 26 and 25, respectively.
In a semifinal match on Wednesday, October 9, Cathedral downed rival Bishop Chatard by a match score of 3-1 (26-24, 25-16, 29-31, 25-13). The Lady Irish outscored the Lady Trojans 69-42 on the attack, had more service aces with 9 compared to 8, and delivered 20 more service attempts on their way to the match win. This marked the second time this season Cathedral faced off against Chatard, with the Lady Irish also victorious in the first meeting by an identical 3-1 match score on CYO Night in the Welch Activity Center on September 10.
In a quarterfinal match on Tuesday, October 8, Cathedral faced Shortridge in the final match of the season at the WAC. The Lady Irish were victorious over the Lady Blue Devils by a match score of 3-0 (25-6, 25-5, 25-7). Cathedral cruised to a set one win with their standard rotation. Coach MOH switched things up in set two by playing all six Lady Irish seniors all the way around and won the “old-school rotation” match in convincing fashion. For set three, Coach MOH then utilized all non-senior players on the varsity roster to close out the match.
The Lady Irish begin IHSAA Class 4A Volleyball State Tournament play on Saturday, October 19, at Lawrence Central High School. In the Sectional 10 bracket draw, Cathedral awaits the winner of New Palestine versus North Central in the second of two semifinal matches that morning.
