As expected, the Assumption and Mercy volleyball teams both cruised to victories Friday to set up a Saturday showdown in the state tournament at Valley High School.
Brooke Moore had six kills, six digs and four aces to lead No. 1-ranked Assumption to a 25-8, 25-14, 25-15 victory over No. 18 McCracken County.
Madison Mudd had 12 kills and four aces to lead No. 3 Mercy to a 25-10, 25-13, 25-7 victory over Allen Central.
Assumption and Mercy will meet at 2:30 p.m. Saturday in a quarterfinal. The Rockets are 2-0 against the Jaguars this season, sweeping a pair of best-of-five matches.
The Assumption-Mercy winner will advance to Saturday’s 8:30 p.m. semifinal against the winner of the quarterfinal between No. 5 Notre Dame and No. 7 North Oldham. The championship match is set for 2 p.m. Sunday.
Along with Moore, Anna Palmer (six kills), Kara Shacklette (five kills), Ana Crockett (five kills) and Shelby Olsen (27 assists) had solid matches for Assumption against McCracken County.
Cate Hyde had seven kills to lead the Lady Mustangs (31-10).
For Mercy, Isabel Salameh, Neci Harris and Jayme Scott each had eight kills against Allen Central. Morgan Elmore (38 assists) and Lauren Tharp (eight digs) also had big matches.
Hayley Pinson and Katie Kendrick both had four kills to lead Allen Central (32-6).
In other first-round matches:
* North Oldham 3, Scott 0: Casey Foote had nine kills and Jennifer Rebbin chipped in seven kills and five aces to lead the No. 7 Lady Mustangs to a 26-24, 25-20, 25-23 victory over the Lady Eagles.
Sarah Snyder had eight kills for North Oldham (26-12), which is in the state tournament for the fourth time in the past five seasons. The Lady Mustangs advanced to Saturday’s 1 p.m. quarterfinal against No. 5 Notre Dame.
Jessica Tapp had 14 kills to lead No. 13 Scott (37-4).
* Notre Dame 3, Henry Clay 0: Morgan Hentz, who has committed to Stanford, had 20 kills and 15 digs to lead the No. 5 Pandas (32-5) over the No. 4 Blue Devils 27-25, 27-25, 25-15.
Hallie Shelton had 17 kills to lead Henry Clay (36-5).
* Pulaski Southwestern 3, South Laurel 0: April Wood had 13 kills and Callie Young added 11 as the Warriors (27-11) defeated the Lady Cardinals 25-21, 25-9, 25-20.
Savannah Baxter had six kills and eight digs to lead South Laurel (30-8).
* South Warren 3, Letcher County Central 0: Kirby Clark had 17 kills to lead the No. 23 Spartans (34-6) over the Lady Cougars 25-9, 25-8, 25-14.
Alli Shepherd had four kills to lead Letcher County Central (29-8).
Jason Frakes can be reached at (502) 582-4046 and jfrakes@courier-journal.com.