SOUTH BEND, Ind. – The Notre Dame volleyball team extended its winning streak to three following a four-set win, 25-14, 23-25, 26-24, 25-21, over Virginia Tech Sunday afternoon inside Purcell Pavilion. With the win, the Irish improved to 7-7 on the season and 4-2 in Atlantic Coast Conference play.
Sydney Helmers, for a second-straight match, surpassed her career-high in kills. The junior registered 19 kills, six digs, three assists and three service aces to lead the Irish. Over her last two matches, Helmers has 36 kills, averaging 5.14 kills per set over the weekend.
Morgan Gaerte finished with 13 kills, making it 14-straight matches with double-digit kills while tying her career-high in aces with four. Mae Kordas had her second-straight 10 kill game, matching her career-high from Friday night.
The setting duo of Maya Baker (22 assists) and Harmony Sample (17 assists) facilitated the Irish offense, while Grace Langer finished with five blocks, two of them solo.
Notre Dame finished with 11 aces, the second-most this season (13 against East Texas A&M). Gaerte, Helmers, Bjork and Lucy Trump all registered multiple aces.
The Irish will look to continue their impressive stretch next weekend against Pittsburgh Friday night at 6:30 p.m. and SMU Sunday at 1:00 p.m. inside Purcell Pavilion. Admission is free to both matches. Friday night’s game will be the annual “Irish Wear Green” game where fans are encouraged to wear green in their support of Notre Dame volleyball. Sunday’s game will be the third of four poster giveaway and post-game autographs.
How it happened
Set 1
- Irish jumped out to a 7-3 lead thanks to a 5-0 run. Helmers had two kills and two service aces early.
- Notre Dame went on a 4-0 run to take a 15-9 lead at the media timeout. Gaerte piled up a couple of service aces herself, finishing the opening set with three
- A 6-1 Irish run clinched the first set, 25-14. Notre Dame hit .350, including .500 from Helmers who had three kills and .667 from Anna Bjork’s two kills.Â
- Notre Dame had five service aces in the first set, three from Gaerte and two from Helmers.
- It was the seventh-straight set the Irish have won dating back to a week ago at Cal.
Set 2
- Both teams went back-and-forth to open the second set, tied up 8-8 early. A 3-0 run after that by Virginia Tech forced an Irish timeout.
- Blows continued to be exchanged throughout the set. A Lucy Trump ace tied the set at 21-21 before kills from Helmers and Gaerte made it 23-23
- Back-to-back points from the Hokies knotted the match at one-all.
Set 3
- Irish responded with a 3-0 run to start the set and a 6-1 lead after a kill and solo block from Helmers.
- Virginia Tech crawled back to make it just a 9-8 Irish lead, but a 4-1 run capped off by a block from Anna Bjork and Mae Kordas forced a Hokies timeout at 13-9 Notre Dame
- The Irish got three huge blocks in a crucial stretch from Langer, Sample and Bjork to make it 20-15 that forced the second Hokies timeout.
- Virginia Tech answered out of the timeout with a 4-1 run to make it 21-19 Irish.
- The Hokies didn’t let up, coming back to tie the set at 24.
- Helmers finished off the set for Notre Dame, getting her 14th kill of the game to take the lead before clinching it with her third service ace.
Set 4
- For a second-consecutive set, Notre Dame opened with a 3-0 run courtesy of block assists from Kordas and Bjork and a solo block from Langer.
- Hokies countered with an offensive attack to tie the set at 6-6.
- The Irish broke free from back-and-forth action with a 3-0 run to make it 19-17 and force a Virginia Tech timeout.
- During that run, Helmers notched her 18th kill, besting her career-high of 17 set Friday night in the win over Virginia.
- Notre Dame extended the run to 6-0, forcing a Hokies timeout at 22-17.
- The Irish put it away after that, as Kordas ripped a kill off a set from Baker to give Notre Dame its third-straight win.