Dexter falls at home to Notre Dame in clash of district contenders

Jerry Jarrell photo Dexter's Brittany Bedford controls a serve while teammate Erika Mouser (No. 9) looks on during action at home Monday against Notre Dame Regional High School.

Dexter High School will host the upcoming Class 3, District 1 tournament starting Monday, Oct. 26, where the state's fourth ranked Lady Bulldogs will be the top seed, followed by Dexter at No. 2, Fredericktown at No. 3, Kennett at No. 4, New Madrid County Central at No. 5 and Doniphan at No. 6.

Notre Dame (28-4) did nothing to dispute its state ranking by methodically pulling away from Dexter in each game with solid defense at the net and backcourt and the precision attacks by the front line.

Junior Allyson Bradshaw led the Lady Bulldogs in kills with 10, while sophomore Kate Edwards added seven and senior Meghan Dohogne knocked six while contributing four blocks and 11 digs.

"They were a little closer than I would have liked them to be," Notre Dame coach Tara Stroup said of the margin of victory in the two games. "It's good to come in and play here since we play here in districts in a week and play the team we maybe possibly will be matched up with.

"It's good experience I think," Stroup continued. "Just get the girls used to the gym and the players on their team and how they hit it and that kind of stuff. It's good to be able to do this so close to districts."

Dexter (16-14) entered the game with the services of junior hitter and starter Elisha Flanigan, who is out with medical concerns, that hopefully won't keep her on the sidelines for district play.

Dexter coach Kris Vandeven moved Brittany Harris up from the junior varsity squad to fill the void and the freshman responded with a solid game that included seven kills and a team-high five blocks.

Her efforts helped Dexter hang with the talented Lady Bulldogs early in both games.

"I think our girls adjusted well to a last second line-up change," Vandeven commented. " We have been plagued with illness lately, and I feel like we have been constantly changing our line-up. With tonight's addition of freshmen Brittany Harris the girls hung in there with a tough Notre Dame team. Brittany played as if she were a varsity veteran."

Notre Dame's Stroup said her team got off to a slow start against the Lady 'Cats, but the strength of her team came through in the end.

"I think we were a little slow at first," Stroup noted. "They (Dexter) blocked quite a bit, and we just kind of sit around for a while. But we started picking it up towards the end.

"You can't go into anything to cocky because it can be a different story in a week," she continued. "We've got a pretty balanced team this year. That is one of our strengths we've had. We don't have that one person that no matter where they get it they can put it to the floor, but we got probably five, six or seven that are pretty consistent with the hitting and we can get kills from more than one or two people and that's good because the blockers don't know that this is the one that is going to get every set and we've got to block them every time so that's good we're able to mix it up."

It was also Senior Night, so it marked the last regular-season home game for Abbie Warren and Brittany Bedford. Warren finished the night with six kills, while Bedford charted 13 digs.

"I'm so proud of our two seniors, Brittany and Abbie. They have given a season full of hard work and dedication," Vandeven stated.

In the jayvee contest, Notre Dame Regional High School defeated the Lady Bearcats, 25-15, 25-18. The loss drops the jayvee squad to a 10-11 record.

While Dexter will not play again until the district tournament, Notre Dame will travel to New Madrid County Central then finish the season at home against Leopold.