For the ninth-consecutive season, it will be Ursuline Academy and Mount Notre Dame playing the Division I regional final with a trip to state on the line.
Ursuline Academy had already punched its ticket while Mount Notre Dame beat Seton in three sets, 25-21, 25-21, 25-21 on Thursday.
The teams split their regular-season meetings, but the playoff match was the first time Mount Notre Dame played the Saints at full strength. The Cougars played as if they'd never missed a set together and it was enough to stave off Seton.
The Saints had leads in sets one and three but set two was all Mount Notre Dame and that's when Florida commit Carly Hendrickson took over.
More:After 5-set win over St. Ursula, Ursuline Academy reaches 16th-consecutive regional final
"She's hard to stop," Mount Notre Dame head coach Michael Crofton said of Hendrickson. "We know that and we know teams are going to key on her, especially as we keep going forward and that's where we can really equalize things with other opportunities and other players around on our team."
The Cougars grabbed points by exploiting the areas Seton left undefeated. As the Saints moved up or dropped back to defend against a Hendrickson or Maggie Butkovich hit, Mount Notre Dame had success rifling the ball past defenders at the net or placing it softly in the middle of the court.
"You can only defend a certain amount of balls against them," Seton head coach Kelly Crowley said. "You have to pick and choose your battles."
Trailing 2-0 in the match entering set three, Seton jumped to an 8-4 lead after a service ace by Sakura Codling and looked like it could keep its season alive for another set. That chance ended as Mount Notre Dame took advantage of Seton's errors and didn't make many of its own.
Down 10-7, the Cougars tied the set 10-10 on an ace by Hendrickson and then took an 11-10 lead when the Saints were called for being out of position. After an 11-11 tie, MND jumped up 12-11 when Seton was called for double contact.
Seton kept the set tied as late as 20-20, but the Cougars then won five of the next six points to win the match.
"I feel like we executed," Crofton said. "We've been talking about Seton since Saturday and we put in a really good game plan. I felt like we scouted them well.
"They didn't really surprise us with something when they started out, but then they started giving us everything they had. They started transitioning faster. Their defense really picked up and it was a challenge for us to finish that one out in three."
The loss ended Seton's year at 18-8, but a second-straight appearance in the regional tournament is a good sign for the program that has continued a resurgence.
"We had success top to bottom," Crowley said of Seton. "Our freshman team was 19-2. Our JV team was 15-4. We're here and we aren't going away."
Defending state champion MND improved to 17-9 and will have a date with its usual regional final foe.
The Cougars beat Ursuline Academy in both meetings in 2021, but that will be meaningless come Saturday.
"Throw everything out for Saturday night," Crofton said. "It'll be a fun time. We know them. They know us. It's going to be what I just stressed to the girls. It's going to be about who wants it more, who's disciplined more, who has a better work ethic come Saturday. It's going to be an intense match."
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