Notre Dame-Branson volleyball

Tuesday's match
State Northern California Division V finals
No. 3 Notre Dame (33-5) vs. No. 1 Branson, Ross (28-9) at College of Marin, 7 p.m.
 Owners of six straight State Northern California Division V titles, the Bulls have won four state titles during this run of supremacy.
 Ranked No. 30 in the entire state of California, Branson has won six straight matches, beating Santa Catalina on Saturday and Head-Royce in four sets in the North Coast Section finals.
 Ironically, neither team captured a league title, as both Branson and Notre Dame finished second in their respective leagues.
 The two teams are no strangers to each other, having faced off in last year's Northern California title match. In fact, the Bulls have ended Notre Dame's season two of the last three years.
 Stopping Branson means containing 6-foot-3 outside hitter Grace Roberts-Burbank and her 350 kills this fall. For a second option, 6-1 Carrie Wentzel has compiled 248 kills.
 The Bulls have four players over 6-feet and three others that stand a shade under at 5-11. This is also a squad that has compiled over 1,500 digs.
 Of course, what the Bulls do is no mystery to the reigning two-time Central Coast Section Division V champions, who faced virtually the same unit last year.
 Nikki DeSerpa has been on a power surge in the playoffs for Notre Dame with 351 kills on the year, while Kate Lathos has 205.
 The Spirits have relied on Jennifer Lane and Adeline Laughton to get touches at the net, enabling libero Mikeila Banda to start an offense engineered by setter Julia Scattini.
 Scattini is closing in on 700 assists, with four players over 100 kills, including Chase Hagenbuch.