Every game in Tuesday night's Division II girls volleyball match between Ironwood Ridge and host Notre Dame Prep was a tight one. The reason Notre Dame prevailed didn't take a complicated answer.

"I think we were a little more consistent and just made less mistakes," Notre Dame interim coach Tommy Phan said of the Saints' 25-20, 25-21, 20-25, 27-25 victory.

The win improved Notre Dame's power-rankings record to 12-1 and at least kept the Saints in the top 5  in Division II. Ironwood Ridge, with a solid 8-4 record, is faced with winning out as its coach Bill Lang sees it if the Nighthawks are to qualify for the playoffs.

"We were No. 17 I think coming in and there are a bunch of teams at the top with one or two losses," Lang said. "We're in a tough spot now with four losses."

Both teams rely on defense to be sharp. Notre Dame seemed to have an edge in that department the first two games when it led each game the entire way save a one-point deficit in each.

"At the start we were not very good defensively," Lang said. "Knowing where we are in the rankings, the girls are feeling a lot of weight on their shoulders. We got better as we went on. Passed more consistently and got our outsides more involved. I think if we'd have had a better start we might have gotten out of here winning 3-1."

Notre Dame spread its attacking around as usual. Unofficially Juliana Brutsche led the Saints with 12 kills, followed by Genevieve Pirotte and Jade Martinez with eight each. Megan Salamun and Sheridan Burns (6 apiece). Down the stretch in game 4 Salamun and Burns put away big points after the team's were tied at 20. The final tie at 25 was broken by two Ironwood Ridge errors.

Ironwood Ridge was led unofficially by Mykaela Hammer with 18 kills and Erin Hohenstein with 11. Ironwood Ridge, which has played nine of its 12 matches with teams in its section (D-II, Section II), has losses to D-I Hamilton, D-II Marcos de Niza, D-II Salpointe and Notre Dame. The latter three are all in the top seven of the D-II power rankings.  Hamilton is 9th in the D-I rankings.