No one could blame Notre Dame High School volleyball coach Dan Basler for breathing a sigh of relief after his Lady Irish held on to win their first game Thursday evening at Chattanooga Christian.

Having watched an eight-point advantage disappear, the first-year coach had reason to fear the game might slip into familiar territory for a team that has lost its share of leads this season.

Instead, the Lady Irish closed out a thrilling 27-25 win and went on to a 3-0 victory in the nondistrict match.

“I knew we would have a chance if we came out strong,” Basler said. “I was glad we were able to complete that game, because we’ve been losing a lot of the close ones. We’ve been getting big leads and then letting teams catch up with us, so just to win that game was big.”

Notre Dame (12-17) scored the first seven points of the match and held a 15-7 lead before the Lady Chargers began their comeback. A kill from Tiffani Johnson tied it at 17 for CCS, and a block from Taylor Snipes evened the score at 19.

The Lady Irish worked their way back to game point at 24-21, but the Lady Chargers again rallied, tying at 24 on an ace from Alex Givens.

“I thought they responded really well in the first game,” CCS coach Kevin Ulmer said. “We were down and made an incredible comeback.”

A Laura Curtis kill gave the Lady Chargers their first lead at 25-24, but the Lady Irish capitalized on several CCS errors to score the final three points.

In game two, two aces from Stephanie Sumida helped Notre Dame pull away midway through, and the Lady Irish dominated the rest of their 25-13 win.

“I know that first game was key,” Basler said. “That brought them down quite a bit and gave us a big boost.”

Notre Dame again built an early lead in the third game, going up 14-3 on a kill by Amanda Marini and cruising to a 25-17 win. Marini led the Lady Irish with 30 digs, while Melanie McGraw had a team-high seven kills.

Erica Cowart followed with six to go along with her 18 assists and nine digs for Notre Dame, and Mariah Cushing added five kills and 14 digs.

The teams will meet again Wednesday at Notre Dame in a match that will count toward the district standings.

“I’m nervous because they played so well in the first game,” Basler said. “I just hope we can do the same thing to them next time.”

Johnson led CCS (7-18) with six kills and seven assists, while Snipes finished with five kills and Givens totaled 12 assists, eight digs and three aces.

Jennifer Long’s 28 digs led the defensive effort for CCS, which honored its seniors before Thursday’s match and hopes to help them finish their careers by improving on last year’s postseason finish.

“I think our skills are all there,” Ulmer said. “It’s just a matter of getting us to play consistently for as many games as we need to. We definitely have the ability. This is the best group I’ve coached since I’ve been here.”

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