Winfield-Mt. Union ends season with loss to No. 5 Notre Dame

BURLINGTON — Winfield-Mt. Union has gave it their all on the volleyball court all year long, no matter the opposition.

The same held true on Monday night in Father Minett Gymnasium against the No. 5 rated Notre Dame Nikes.

It wasn’t the final result that the Wolves would have liked, as they suffered a 3-0 (25-20, 27-25, 25-16) sweep, but they never let up.

In the matches opening set, WMU let Notre Dame know that they were there.

The Nikes jumped out to a 10-5 lead, but the Wolves clawed back in to take an eventual 13-12 and 14-12 lead after a WMU block. The latter was their largest advantage of the set.

“I told them that we didn’t need to be perfect,” Winfield-Mt. Union head coach David Pieart said. “We just needed to stop dwelling on past mistakes. We needed to shake it off and go right after it. I thought we did that so well.”

The lead changed hands three times and the two squads were tied six times throughout, but Notre Dame took control late.

After back-to-back kills by WMU senior Melina Oepping, which made it 16-15, the Nikes rattled off six straight points to put them up 21-16.

Winfield-Mt. Union would comes back to within three at, 21-18, but Notre Dame was able to hold on.

“It seemed like every time they needed it, they came up with a big kill,” Pieart said. “It was usually by (Gabby) Deery.”

Deery would lead the game in kills with 20, matching the rest of her teammates combined.

In the early stages of set two, Winfield-Mt. Union showed what it’s capable of.

After being tied at 4-4, the Wolves outscored the Nikes 7-1 to jump out to a 11-5 lead. Notre Dame quickly began to respond, following with three straight points, which included a pair of aces.

Notre Dame took the lead at 15-14, but WMU did not wavier.

After trailing 21-18, matching their largest deficit of the second set, the Wolves put together another run, which ended with WMU’s Audrie Gipple tying it at 22 on a kill and the Nikes hitting it into the net to give the Wolves the 23-22 lead.

One point is all that would separate the two teams the rest of the way as they tied three times at 23, 24 and 25. Notre Dame would take the set on kill by Aviana West followed by an ace.

“Set one could have went our way,” Pieart said. “Set two could have easily could have gone the other way. We just kind of ran out of gas.”

In the third and final set of the night, Winfield-Mt. Union came out firing once again as they lept out to a 4-0 lead off four Tessa Huston serves.

Notre Dame once again answered.

WMU would never give up the lead until Notre Dame took it at 12-11. The Nikes would never give it back. That lead was part of a seven point run by the Nikes and by the end of it, they would lead the Wolves 16-11.

The closest the Wolves would come would be three at 18-15, but Notre Dame scored five straight to make it 23-15. WMU would score once more, but Notre Dame finished it out.

“I’m extremely proud of the girls,” Pieart said. “That’s four years in a row now that we’ve faced Notre Dame in the playoffs. This is by far the best we’ve played against them in those games. I’m so proud of these girls and the seniors worked their heart out to try and get here.”

Oepping led WMU with 11 kills in the loss. Bradie Buffington and Gipple followed with four. Kailey Neil finished with three. Lily Freeman had two and Keely Malone one.

Freeman finished with four blocks as well. Oepping had three and Buffington two.

Keeley Malone had 21 assists for the Wolves. Keetyn Townsley had two.

Townsley had a team-high 14 digs for WMU. Oepping followed with 11. Aurey Meeker had nine.

With the loss, the Wolves end their season with a 24-10 overall record.