‘We’ve seen it all.’ Dunbar volleyball has outlasted three ranked rivals in five sets.
Paul Laurence Dunbar volleyball coach Jenni Morgan won’t have to worry about whether her team has been battle tested going into this postseason.
The Bulldogs (13-5) have been through it, especially in the last week in which they survived a pair of five-set thrillers against ranked 11th Region rivals.
On Tuesday, coaches’ poll No. 9 Dunbar lost the first and third sets against No. 20 Lexington Catholic and faced a match point on its own court before prevailing 19-25, 25-21, 19-25, 25-19, 19-17. On Thursday, the Bulldogs lost the second and third sets against No. 23 Great Crossing, but prevailed again by rallying for a 25-21, 15-25, 22-25, 25-18, 15-11 win.
Morgan takes the nail biters in stride. Two weeks ago, No. 7 Frederick Douglass won the first two sets against Dunbar at The Farm only to eventually also lose to the Bulldogs in five sets.
“That’s just what we’re doing this year. We’re making sure everybody gets their money’s worth and they get to watch volleyball for a long time. They’re aging me this year,” Morgan said with a wry smile. “We know when we play good teams (those teams) are going to play well. And we’ve got to be able to respond.”
The regular season is about building the team regardless of how fraught the wins or losses might be. Four of Dunbar’s five losses have come to top 10 teams.
“We are depending on multiple people at different points in the game,” Morgan said. “It’s somebody different every single match.”
Thursday’s match point was put together on a tremendous dig by junior Mia Claire Barnes and a back-line kill by sophomore Mia Pendley.
Senior outside hitter Mya McDowell said her team knows it has to “weather the storm” against good teams in big-time games. They’ve done it before as two-time defending 11th Region champions..
“Going into the fifth sets, especially, we just have a lot more to fight for,” McDowell said. “We think back to last season and see what we have accomplished. And we know what we can accomplish. … You just have to see what they do and you’ve got to figure out how to respond.”
Lexington Catholic (10-3) will pose a threat both in the 43rd District Tournament and, potentially, the 11th Region Tournament if both teams reach the finals. But the Knights will be looking for the program’s first win against Dunbar since 2004. Douglass (12-5) can’t be counted out either.
Great Crossing (11-7) is the last team other than Dunbar to hoist an 11th Region crown, which it did in 2021 with a win over the Bulldogs. The Warhawks have been runner-up each of the last two seasons.
McDowell acknowledged Dunbar’s regular wins in such close fashion over heated rivals could give those foes some extra motivation, but they also give her team a little more confidence.
“Now we know every play that they have. We’ve seen it all,” McDowell said. “We’ve gone through every five-setter. … That’s really good experience going into the postseason.”
Milestone moment for public school volleyball
At last week’s Louisville Invitational Tournament, No. 10 Ryle conquered No. 1 Assumption in a two-set match, perhaps the first victory ever for a public school over the state’s most decorated program.
At the time, Assumption, the 23-time and defending state champions, was ranked No. 2 in the American Volleyball Coaches Association Super 25 national rankings. Assumption had no losses to a public school since at least 2002 when the KHSAA began keeping online records.
Dunbar coach Morgan and the Bulldogs were on hand to witness the achievement.
“It was time and it was really good to see. They deserve it. They played phenomenal,” said Morgan, who is friends with Ryle coach Tasha Tanner-Lovins.
Dunbar typically plays Ryle early in the season each year. The Raiders swept the Bulldogs 3-0 in this year’s season opener.
No public school has ever won the KHSAA state volleyball championship since its inception in 1979. Only three public schools have ever reached the state finals — Greenwood (2011), Henry Clay (2016) and Dunbar (2022).
“It’s really important to see what we can do when we’re all working together competing at our best,” McDowell said of a public school beating a team like Assumption. “We can compete with those other schools.”
