WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. – The Notre Dame Volleyball team dropped Friday night’s match at Wake Forest in four sets, 18-25, 25-23, 23-25, 21-25 to fall to 8-13 overall and 5-8 in Atlantic Coast Conference play.
Morgan Gaerte was stellar for Notre Dame. The sophomore recorded 25 kills, the second-most in a single game in her career behind her program record-breaking 34 kill output earlier this season, on a blistering .429 hitting percentage. It was her fifth game of 20 or or more kills this season, which is tied for sixth-most in single-season school history. In the second set, Gaerte surpassed 500 career kills. She also tied her career-high with four service aces.
5️⃣0️⃣0️⃣ Gaerte Parties‼️#GoIrish☘️ pic.twitter.com/jmOkPWtw1n
— Notre Dame Volleyball (@NDvolleyball) November 8, 2025
Gaerte now has 21-straight games with double-digit kills, tying Emily Loomis from the 2002 season for the second-longest streak in program history. She needs four more to tie the record and five more to break it.
Lily Fenton made her first career start, tallying a career-high 25 assists. Maya Baker had 20 assists herself, marking the fourth time this season that the Irish have had two setters tally 20 or more assists in the same game.
Lucy Trump came into the match in the third set and provided a huge lift for Notre Dame. The senior had six kills on .600 hitting, all seemingly coming in crucial moments. She also had two service aces, two digs and a block assist.
The road trip continues for the Irish on Sunday when Notre Dame heads to Raleigh to face NC State Sunday at 1:00 p.m.
How it happened
Set 1
- Following its senior night ceremonies, Wake Forest came out on fire, jumping to a 9-4 lead early
- Notre Dame took the first timeout of the game at 11-6 Demon Deacons
- A 7-1 run for Wake Forest forced the second Irish timeout of the set at down 7-17
- Notre Dame responded with a 6-1 run to cut the deficit to six behind two kills each from Gaerte and Chichi Nnaji
- The Demon Deacons wouldn’t falter, winning the opening set 25-18 for the early match lead
- Gaerte had four kills on .500 hitting while Nnaji had three kills on .400 hitting herself. In her first career-start, Fenton had seven early assists
Set 2
- Wake Forest jumped out to an early lead for the second-consecutive set at 10-6
- Gaerte notched her eight kill of the night to make it 11-9 Demon Deacons. For the sophomore, it was her 500th career kill
- With the score 16-10 Wake Forest, a 3-0 Irish run, capped by a block from Sydney Helmers and Grace Langer, forced a Demon Deacons timeout
- Back-to-back service aces from Gaerte out of the timeout cut the lead to just one
- A huge block from Langer and Mae Kordas tied the set up at 22. Moments later, a Gaerte kill put Notre Dame up 23-22, forcing a Demon Deacons timeout
- Another Langer/Kordas block made it set point, before Wake Forest flew a serve out of bounds to tie the match at 1-1
Set 3
- Gaerte’s fourth service ace of the match put the Irish up 7-4 to start the crucial third set
- The Demon Deacons fought back to take the lead at the media timeout, 15-12
- Notre Dame crawled back. An ace from Fenton tied the set at 17-all
- Both teams exchanged blows. A Wake Forest kill put it up 23-22 to force an Irish timeout
- Facing set point, Trump lobbed over a kill to make it 24-23, but the Demon Deacons prevailed with a 25-23 third set win to take a 2-1 lead
Set 4
- For the third set of the match, Wake Forest was first to nine points, leading 9-5 when Notre Dame called timeout
- First play out of the timeout, Gaerte secured her 20th kill of the match
- Later in the set, back-to-back Gaerte kills forced a Demon Deacons timeout at 15-12 Wake Forest
- Trailing 17-20, a 3-0 burst put the Irish back in things, tied up at 20-20. A kill and ace from Trump, who came off the bench in the third set, ignited Notre Dame
- Wake Forest held off the Irish in the end, going on a 5-1 run to close the match with a fourth-set win 25-21