This fall, the Notre Dame volleyball team recorded 23 or more wins for the fourth consecutive season at 24-7-3 and had five players garner Class 3 District 1 All-District and SEMO All-Conference honors for their efforts.
Only two of them were named first team all-district and all-conference in middle blockers sophomore Kate Rubel and junior Courtney Tatum. This was the second-straight season these players earned both honors.
In her second campaign as the Bulldogs starting middle blocker, Rubel recorded a team and career-high 397 kills, which ranked 13th in Class 3 and 43rd overall in the state of Missouri.
Kate notched double-digit kills through 23 games this year and recorded a career and team-high 27 kills in a 3-1 win over Dexter in the district semifinals Oct. 23. Rubel also had 20 kills earlier in the season in a 3-2 win over St. Vincent Sept. 13.
Rubel also finished with the second-best hitting percentage (.290), second-most total blocks (54), second-most aces (39), fourth-most digs (267) and fifth-most service receptions (219).
As for Tatum, she also had a 300-plus kill campaign with the Bulldogs as she paced Kate with 310 kills of her own. Courtney did record the best hitting percentage between the two at .314 (10th best in Class 3; 49th overall in Missouri), while she also led Notre Dame in blocks with a career-high 98 (13th Class 3; 33rd Missouri).
Tatum was a force in the back row as well, where she recorded a team-high 408 service receptions and finished second overall in digs with 347.
Being named second team all-district and all-conference was Notre Dame’s sophomore setter Claudia Jones. It was a historic season for Jones as she not only eclipsed 1,000 career assists but also broke the Bulldogs single-season assist record with 946 this fall.
This was the second-most assists in all of Class 3 while ranking 11th overall for all of Missouri and in the top 300 nationally. Claudia was also Notre Dame’s leader in aces with 59 (24th most in Class 3) and was second in serve percentage at 96.8%.
Also being named second team all-conference with Jones was fellow sophomore defensive specialist/outside hitter Brie Rubel, who also earned honorable mention all-district honors.
Despite missing the last few weeks of the regular season, Rubel led the Bulldogs in digs with 373 (12.4 per match) and serve percentage (96.9%), while coming up with the third-most serve receptions (347) and aces (32).
Senior Aubrey Neumeyer earned honorable mention all-conference and all-district.
