UNION — For Notre Dame, Boone County and Newport Central Catholic, Friday's opening round of the state volleyball tournament was mostly a breeze.

        But for Campbell County, it was a nightmare.

        Notre Dame and Boone County needed about half an hour each to advance to today's quarterfinals. Notre Dame easily took out Whitesburg 15-0, 15-3, and Boone County bounced Letcher 15-1, 15-0.

        NewCath eliminated South Oldham 15-7, 15-8. Louisville Sacred Heart survived a first-game scare before beating Campbell County 15-13, 15-7.

        Boone County and NewCath meet in the quarterfinals at 10:15a.m. today at Gray Middle School. Notre Dame takes on Sacred Heart at 10:15a.m. at Ryle.

        Of Northern Kentucky's three survivors, perhaps Notre Dame had the most to overcome: The Pandas were thinking about a first-round loss last year.

        The Pandas looked plenty calm against Whitesburg. Notre Dame has eight seniors, but it was junior Kelley Potter who led the team with eight kills.

        “We worked on our offense,” Potter said. “We haven't been communicating lately. I've been coming late to the front line.”

        Coach Kim Gunning called Potter's game one of her best all year.

        “She was 8-for-11; that's 72 percent kill efficiency,” Gunning said. “If that's a sign of what she does (today), things look great.”

        Campbell County may have wished for half that much. The Camels had barely taken off their sweats before they were staring at a 14-6 deficit.

        “They weren't really there,” coach Dena Gosney said. “They were kind of shy; they knew it.”

        But credit what the Camels then did - a 7-0 run to close within 14-13.

        “Everybody realized this was it,” said senior setter Leah Ballinger, who led the Camels with 29 assists.

        Then it was. Sacred Heart won the first game and buried the Camels in the second behind senior Katie Hall's 13 kills.

        “Our serving killed us for a while,” Hall said. “I guess we were a little tight.

        Senior Jennifer Kennedy led Campbell County with 13 kills. She said in the end, her team didn't talk much on the court. “We didn't give up,” Kennedy said. “We just made too many mistakes.”

        Friday's results

        First round

        At Ryle High School

        Assumption d. Owensboro Apollo, 15-1, 15-0

        Mercy d. Lexington Lafayette, 15-0, 15-4

        Boone County d. Letcher, 15-1, 15-0

        Newport Central Catholic d. South Oldham, 15-7, 15-8

        At Gray Middle School

        Holy Cross d. Lexington Paul L. Dunbar, 15-0, 15-6

        Owensboro Catholic d. Woodford County, 15-10, 15-13

        Notre Dame d. Whitesburg, 15-0, 15-3

        Sacred Heart d. Campbell County, 15-13, 15-7

        Today's matches

        Quarterfinals

        At Ryle

        Holy Cross vs. Owensboro Catholic, 9 a.m.

        Notre Dame vs. Sacred Heart, 10:15 a.m.

        At Gray

        Assumption vs. Mercy, 9 a.m.

        Boone County vs. Newport Central Catholic, 10:15 a.m.

        Semifinals

        At Ryle, 2 p.m. and 3:30 p.m.

        Championship

        At Ryle, 7:30 p.m.

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