Notre Dame-Belmont swept Carlmont in three sets to win the much anticipated annual Battle of Belmont. The Tigers were able to overcome a hostile environment and outlast the Scots in three straight sets – 25-22, 25-21, 25-22.
Notre Dame (15-5) set the tone for the night after winning a heavily contested Game 1, Carlmont (11-6) fought hard the entire set, which had multiple lead changes. After seizing advantage 9-8, The Tigers didn’t trail the remainder of the match.
The Tigers looked to freshman Katie Smoot who had 16 kills to stifle Carlmont rallies throughout the night. Notre Dame also got 15 kills from sophomore Tammy Byrne.
Carlmont seemed to have no answer for Smoot, the 6-1 outside hitter who was participating in her first Battle of Belmont, a longstanding tradition between the two programs. The Scots seemed to have the distinctive advantage playing in the familiarity of their own gym, with a particularly loud student cheering section showing up for the game.
Notre Dame head coach, Jennifer Agresti said, “I was proud of our girls, they were able to come into this hostile environment and really perform well, I’m happy we don’t have to come back here this year.”
After Oct. 3 five-set thriller against Woodside, Carlmont may have been a little fatigued, but head coach Chris Cramer didn’t chalk up the defeat to fatigue, “Yesterday was really intense, and so was the game on tuesday against Burlingame, but we are always going to be fired up to play Notre Dame, we emptied the tank pretty well last night, but these girls can turn the page pretty quickly so I wouldn’t say fatigue played too big of a factor.”
Outside hitter Charlotte Jackman agreed with her coach’s sentiment, “We just didn’t come out with enough energy, I don’t think that had anything to do with last night.”
Carlmont can take a few positives out of their performance, senior Kellan McDonough continues a fine start to the season with 10 kills and Jackman added 9 kills of her own. A lot of youth was on display for both teams, with Carlmont starting two sophomores and Notre Dame fielding a crop of underclassmen themselves.
Carlmont returns to league play against Menlo Atherton on Oct. 8, while Notre Dame turn their sights to Presentation.
– As seen on Prep2Prep.com
