NDCL earns big win over rival Lake

Notre Dame-Cathedral Latin and Lake Catholic started its season off the same way: A loss to St. Joseph Academy.

Since then, both teams have won their last three games. However, one team had to add a tally in the losing column.

It took just three sets for the host Notre Dame-Cathedral Latin Lions to defeat the Lake Catholic Cougars (25-21, 25-15, 25-20) on Sept. 3.

“It is a pretty big victory,” said head coach Tom Ray. “We try not to make regular-season games too (important) because in reality it’s just a regular- season game. It helps us prepare for the end of the season.”

History says, NDCL has had an advantage over Lake Catholic in the postseason lately. But on this night, the Lions had a change of pace.

These teams are quite familiar with each other. Last season, Lake Catholic won both regular-season games; However, NDCL ended the Cougars’ season in the postseason tournament. Even though the Lions had their redemption on the Cougars last year, there was still one more bridge to cross.

NDCL hasn’t beaten Lake Catholic at home in four years. And the Cougars came into the match not having lost a single set since their Aug. 25 loss against St. Joseph. However, the Lions pounced on an opportunity to end one more streak.

NDCL started the first two sets the same way: By picking up momentum with 5-2 leads. In the first set, the visiting-Cougars called a time out and answered to go ahead, 6-5. The Lions roared back to claim set one, capped off by a strong kill by sophomore standout Caroline Jurevicius.

In set two, NDCL never wavered. The Lions dominated the whole way and earned their final point after a thrilling sequence which ended by a miss-hit from Lake Catholic.

Although NDCL led 2-0, they faced some adversity. A team like Lake Catholic, which has frequently been on the winning side of three-set shutouts, was determined to make things interesting.

Midway through the third set, Lake Catholic led, 13-12. However, NDCL, led by its three Division-I players — seniors Hannah Bissler (University of Miami (Fla.) commit) and Missy Serkel (Belmont), as well as Jurevicius — stormed back to secure the victory.

“We played together as a team. We never let them back in,” Jurevicius said. “When they had some runs, we shut them down pretty quickly. It felt good to play as a team at home.”

Jurevicius noted that not having a full crowd for a big-time rivalry game was a different feeling.

“We might not have had the crowd we wanted but we still did our jobs the best we could,” she said.

Jurevicius has interest from several schools across the country, including Penn State and Ohio State. She led her team with 19 kills.

“She’s a great kid. She is going to be phenomenal. She loves her teammates and they love her. We have a great group of seniors,” Ray said. “Bisler is just kind of glued to the team.”

Bisler’s 10 digs were the most on the team.

NDCL improved to 4-1 on the season and has to wait a week to play their next game — Akron Hoban on Sept. 10. Lake Catholic is set to face Riverside Sept. 5.

“We took care of a really good team,” Ray remarked. The teams will meet again on Oct. 13 for their regular-season finale.