Sept. 16, 2011
MADISON, Wis. – Senior Kristen Dealy became the eighth player in Notre Dame volleyball history to record 1,000 kills and 1,000 digs in a career with a 13-kill effort in a 3-1 (25-18, 23-25, 25-14, 27-25) win Friday evening over Western Michigan.
Dealy hit .306 with 21 digs, one ace and a solo block for the Irish (6-3). Entering the contest, Dealy had 995 kills and 1,042 digs. Her 1,000th kill came in the second set to make her the first Irish player to join the 1,000-1,000 club since Adrianna Stasiuk did so in 2007.
The Irish face host Wisconsin at 7:00 p.m. (CT) to end the InnTowner Invitational at the University of Wisconsin Field House.
Flanking Dealy on the offensive strike was junior Hilary Eppink, who had a team-high 14 kills – including seven in the decisive fourth set – on a .478 clip. Freshman Jeni Houser came through with 11 kills.
Sophomore Maggie Brindock had eight kills on 16 swings while dishing out 48 assists to help the Irish hit .296 and redeem a four-set loss to the Broncos (9-2) last season.
Ali Gossen had a team-high 11 kills for Western Michigan, who hit .178 as a unit. The Broncos hit .088 in the first set and .000 in the third.
Dealy’s three straight kills in the opener got Notre Dame out of a 7-4 hole to give the Irish an 8-7 lead. Brindock’s ace at 14-12 then gave Notre Dame enough of a cushion to hold on for the win.
The Irish fell behind by five (12-7) in the second and never recovered, with Western Michigan acing Notre Dame on set-point to head into intermission.
Notre Dame posted a coast-to-coast win in the third behind kills from Houser, freshman Toni Alugbue and Dealy and an ace from sophomore Andrea McHugh to jump ahead, 5-1. McHugh later served Notre Dame to a 17-11 lead and Dealy soon went to work from behind the stripe to steer the Irish to a 7-0 run to close the period.
Western Michigan staged a number of rallies in the fourth to turn a 12-9 deficit into a 16-14 lead for itself. The Broncos eventually led, 22-18, to force a Notre Dame timeout. The timeout proved to be just what the Irish needed as Notre Dame rolled back with a 9-3 jaunt to end the contest.
–ND–