SOUTH BEND, Ind. — #25 Notre Dame picked up a 3-2 victory (25-13, 25-16, 14-25, 21-25, 15-13) over Oakland in its second game of the Golden Dome Invitational on Saturday morning inside Purcell Pavilion
Charley Niego led the Irish with 19 kills and became the 24th Irish to reach the 1,000-kill mark with her third kill of the match in the first set. Aubrey Hamilton added 15 kills for Notre Dame while Caroline Meuth also hit double-digit kills with 10.
Niego (19K, 15D) and Meuth (10K, 12D) both earned double-doubles for the Irish in the win.
Zoe Nunez racked up 53 assists in the match while collecting a team-high18 digs. Hattie Monson also earned 16 digs for the Irish and Lauren Tarnoff notched a game-high six blocks.
HOW IT HAPPENED
First Set
The Irish came out on fire in set one, hitting .441 in the frame en route to a dominant 25-13 triumph to open the match. A kill and an ace by Meuth helped the hosts go up 4-1. Niego added three kills in the early going, including her 1,000th career kills, to give the Irish a 15-11 lead entering the media timeout. Notre Dame closed the stanza on a 9-0 run, which included two kills each by Niego and Hamilton, to earn a 1-0 lead in the match.
Niego earned six kills in the set with a .500 hitting percentage while Hamilton connected on four of six swings and Meuth added five kills with a .364 mark.
Second Set
A 6-1 run propelled the Irish to an 11-7 advantage before Oakland worked to tie the set at 14-all. Notre Dame regained control of the set by closing the frame on an 11-2 run, including three aces by Nunez and a trio of kills from Niego, to take the stanza 25-16 and earn a 2-0 lead in the match.
As a team, the Irish connected on 19 of 39 swings and hit .359 in the second set.
Third Set
After the Irish took a 7-6 lead, the Grizzlies answered with a 10-2 stretch to go up 16-9. The visitors stayed in control of the frame from there and forced a fourth set with a 25-14 decision.
Fourth Set
A pair of aces by Niego and two kills from Sydney Bent helped the Irish earn a 6-2 lead to open the fourth frame. However, the Grizzlies came back to earn a 15-14 lead after an 8-2 stretch by the visitors. Notre Dame tied the set on two occasions, but Oakland forced a decisive fifth set by taking the fourth, 25-21.
Fifth Set
A 6-2 Irish run, capped by back-to-back kills by Hamilton, put Notre Dame up 8-5 in the final set. Oakland earned three straight points to even the set at 12-12 before a block by Tarnoff and kill by Hamilton gave the Irish a 14-13 lead. Hamilton and Tarnoff then combined for the final block to clinch the set, 15-13, and give the Irish the five-set triumph.
UP NEXT
- #25 Notre Dame concludes the Golden Dome Invitational later today (Aug. 28) with a matchup against Loyola Chicago at 7 p.m. ET on ACC Network Extra.
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