SOUTH BEND, Ind. – The Notre Dame Volleyball team dropped Sunday’s match to eighth-ranked SMU in three sets inside Purcell Pavilion. The Irish are now 7-9 on the season and 4-4 in Atlantic Coast Conference play.
Morgan Gaerte led the Irish with 13 kills on .423 hitting percentage. The sophomore has double-digit kills in all 16 games this season and now has 251 total kills on the year. Sydney Helmers was the other Irish player with double-digits, recording 12 of her own. Helmers also had a team-high three service aces.
Chichi Nnaji was effective in her role, recording eight kills. Harmony Sample, who started at setter, notched 18 assists.
Notre Dame will head to North Carolina this upcoming week, facing North Carolina on Friday, October 24th at 7 p.m. ET before a clash with Duke on Sunday, October 26th at 1 p.m. ET. Both matches will be broadcast on ACC Network Extra.
How it happened
Set 1
- The game started off with back-to-back aces from Sydney Helmers for a 2-0 Irish lead.
- SMU answered with an 8-2 run and had a 10-5 lead at the first timeout.
- A 3-0 Irish run, capped with a Morgan Gaerte ace, forced a SMU score at 17-14 Mustangs
- A late charge from Notre Dame forced the second SMU timeout at 24-21 Mustangs after another 3-0 Irish run, But SMU took the opening set 25-21
- Gaerte and Chichi Nnaji both had four kills in the opening set while Harmony Sample had seven assists in the opening set
Set 2
- The Irish got kills early from Helmers, Nnaji and Gaerte to jump out to a 5-3 lead
- Consecutive Helmers’ kills put Notre Dame up 15-14 at the media timeout
- With the match tied at 22, Helmers put the Irish up 23-22 with her sixth kill of the set. Maya Baker notched a kill at the net to put Notre Dame at set point 24-23.
- SMU wouldn’t falter, getting three kills in a row to take the second set and match advantage
Set 3
- The Mustangs took over the third set, going on an 8-3 run to open the third frame
- Notre Dame clawed back only a four-point deficit, but SMU 5-0 run pushed the lead to 19-10 in favor of the Mustangs
- The Irish made a late charge, but it wasn’t enough as the Mustangs took the third set 25-19.