By Murray Gleffe
Correspondent
ASHWAUBENON — The Notre Dame Academy Tritons girls’ volleyball team defeated the Ashwaubenon Jaguars (25-12, 25-8, 25-17) in a Fox River Classic Conference game March 29 at Ashwaubenon High School.
“It was nice to get everybody minutes tonight,” said Ben Alexander-Wolf, Notre Dame head coach. “It was nice to run some lineups we haven’t run before. I was pleased with the younger kids and how they’ve developed as the season has progressed. It’s a big stepping stone for some of these freshmen and sophomores for next August.”
The Tritons were paced by Bryn Danen’s nine kills.
In addition, Danielle Dow and Cadence Maxfield each had 11 assists, and Mya Kapalko collected seven aces.
Notre Dame jumped out to a 14-6 lead in the first set after Danen knocked down a kill from the right front of the court.
“We knew we could control the tempo of this match,” said Danen. “We were relaxed tonight and spread the court well.”
Later, the Tritons extended their margin to double digits after the Jaguars had an unforced error on a setting opportunity.
Notre Dame took the opener by 13 points.
Ashwaubenon went down 5-0 in the middle set and could muster only eight points to go down 2-0.
The Jaguars showed some grit in the final set of the match.
Elke Scherer’s sets to Anna Wendorf and Brenna Schlader started paying dividends, as the home team went up 8-7 in the third.
It was short-lived, though, as the Tritons scored the next 11 points to go up 18-8 behind the serving of Kapalko.
“We got back around to our first three servers,” Alexander-Wolf said. “Mya has a wicked serve and can put a ball on a dime. She broke us out of the ho-hum slump we were in. I told the team to make a push and get a little separation in the third set. I got acknowledgment from every kid, which was nice to see.”
Down the stretch, Notre Dame was too much to handle with its blocks and kills and closed out the match.
The Tritons host Manitowoc Lincoln Tuesday, March 30, while Ashwaubenon travels to De Pere.
“We have a good squad coming in (today),” Alexander-Wolf said about Manitowoc. “They’re beastly, with two exceptional outside hitters. Mary Beth does a great job with her squads. We know we’ll have to have 100 percent focus. Right now, the girls need to get off their feet, rest up and reenergize for the game.”