Notre Dame Prep outlasts North Branch in five sets to win D2 regional title
NORTH BRANCH » The road to Battle Creek has always had to go through North Branch for the Pontiac Notre Dame Prep volleyball team.
The Broncos and Irish have met in the regional tournament the last five years and did so again on Thursday night in a Division 2 regional championship game.
The two couldn’t have been much more equal on the floor, but it was the experience and poise of the Irish that ultimately prevailed in a 24-26, 25-23, 25-17, 21-25, 16-14 victory.
“What a great team. It’s always a battle with North Branch and they played their hearts out. That match could have went either way,” Notre Dame Prep coach Betty Wroubel said. “Both teams were dying out there. It was a tremendous game. It’s a shame that anyone had to lose this match. Kudos to ( North Branch), it is going to be tough to beat them in the future.”
The win gives the Irish a fourth consecutive regional championship. The winner between these two has reached at least the state semifinals the previous four seasons, while also producing two state champions.
In a match that went nearly two- and- a- half hours, both teams were physically and mentally spent by the end, but the crowd provided an atmosphere that most haven’t experienced in the COVID-19 pandemic season.
“It’s been such a stressful, stressful year. You are walking on that thin ice all year and it feels like you know you are going to fall through, you just don’t know how deep it’s going to be when you do or when it’s going to happen. That has taken a mental toll on the players and the coaching staff. It’s hard for these kids to be playing this year, but kudos to both teams for coming out and battling and playing such a tremendous game ( Thursday night),” Wroubel added.
Each of the first two sets were razor thin, as neither team was able to pull away from the other. North Branch fought off a set point in the first and scored the final three points to take a 26-24 victory.
In the second, the Irish found themselves down 23-19 and in need of a rally. They got it by scoring the final six points of the set. Junior Aly Borellis put down the final point to even the match.
The third set was the most lopsided, as the Irish had a 7- 0 rally to take an 18-14 lead it wouldn’t relinquish. Junior Bianca Giglio had two big kills during the rally and was the consistent finisher throughout the night in the match for the Irish.
“She didn’t play as well the other night, and she got her head back in and just carried us ( Thursday),” Wroubel said of Giglio, who finished with 30 kills. “I can’t speak enough good things about her. She works hard and is a tremendous, tremendous leader for us. She’s got all that energy and she played like an MVP for us.”
The Broncos showed a lot of grit in the fourth set by forcing a fifth with a 25-21 victory in which it led most of the way.
North Branch would hold an 11-10 lead in the fifth set as well, but Borellis had a pair of kills while Giglio had another to make it 13-11.
“We didn’t get really panicky,” Wroubel said. “We had taken a lead in every set, so we knew what we had to do and that we could do it. We just had to go out and finish the match. We kept our cool and found a way to win.”
The Irish would take a 14-12 advantage before North Branch fought off a pair of match points to even things at 14-14.
Notre Dame went back to its two power arms. Borellis found the floor to put the Irish up 15-14 and Giglio capped off her solid match with the gamewinning kill, sparking an emotional celebration on the North Branch floor.
“I was about to faint, it was insane,” Giglio said of the match. “The intensity kept me up. It just kept running through my head about how hard we had worked to get here. We have been working so hard all summer, out on softball courts with nets, working our butts off in 95 degree weather and I couldn’t let our only senior (Olivia Kowalkowski) down. Our team has just worked so hard.”
Kowalkowski, a libero, is the lone senior for the Irish this fall. She earns a fourth regional championship over her fouryear prep career. Her and junior Josie Bloom were steady all night in the back row to keep Notre Dame in some competitive points. Kowalkowski finished with 38 digs while Bloom had 30.
“Livy Kowalkowski is a tremendous leader and keeps everyone so calm on the floor. She was tremendous tonight,” Wroubel said. “Josie missed a few passes, but you know she won’t do it a second time. She always bounces back. Those two really played outstanding.”
Borellis tallied 21 kills, 37 assists and 15 digs for the Irish while Sophia Sudzina had 17 kills, and Margo Sudzina had 31 assists.
Notre Dame Prep is now set to face Warren Regina in Tuesday’s state quarterfinal. The match will be played at St. Clair County Community College at 5 p.m.