In the past two decades, NDCL volleyball has had an incredible level of success under Head Coach Tom Ray. In fact, Coach Ray won his 250th match during the 2023 playoffs.
In the past two decades, NDCL volleyball has had an incredible level of success under Head Coach Tom Ray. In fact, Coach Ray won his 250th match during the 2023 playoffs.
To emphasize how successful his teams have been, Coach Ray has been coaching at NDCL for 16 years and this is the 15th straight year his team has made the district finals.
Following an amazing 2022 season which saw NDCL win the OHSAA Volleyball State Championship with senior NCAA Division I commits, not only did the NDCL team return to districts in 2023, the team made the regional finals after defeating Massillon Jackson 3-1 in the regional semifinals.
Coach Ray talked about how he prepares teams to reach a high level of performance.
“We graduated seven. Included in those were many Division I players,” Coach Ray said. “We had a lot of rebuilding to do. We use our regular season as a rebuilding time.
“A lot of people thought we weren’t going to be very good because of our regular season record. I never look at it that way. I look at it as, we’re going to be ready for playoffs like we are every year, and we’re back where we want to be.”
Volleyball player Reilly Parent emphasized the fast pace of practice during the regular season.
“I think working in practice (during the regular season), we went fast paced every single day,” Parent said. “The season really doesn’t start till playoffs. So I think that fast practice helped a lot.”
Certainly the fast practice during the regular season helped the Lions prepare to face Massillon Jackson in the regional semifinals. NDCL won the first set by a score of 25-20, but Massillon Jackson won the second set 25-16 to even up the match at 1-1.
NDCL then came back and won sets three and four by scores of 25-21 and 25-22 to claim their spot in the regional finals.
The team was led by Emma Blankenship and Reilly Parent. Blankenship had a great match which included 16 kills, five digs, four blocks and four aces.
“Overall it was a very competitive game and it was just super fun,” Blankenship said. “We had our moments — every team does — and we ended up coming out strong, and I think that was really important.”
Added Parent, “We started off pretty strong at the beginning of the match. We did have a bit of a rocky stretch in the middle of the match, but I think that we had a lot of grit and a lot of energy that helped us build into that match, and build into the fourth set. And I think overall it was pretty good.”
Parent also made an excellent showing on the court. For the game, Parent had 14 kills, 12 digs and one block.
After advancing to regional finals, the NDCL season ended Nov. 4 as their opponent, Saint Joseph Academy, advanced to the state championships in Dayton.
With the incredible culture of success that Coach Ray has developed at NDCL, there is no doubt we will soon see NDCL volleyball back in regionals and beyond.
