SOUTH BEND, Ind. – The Notre Dame volleyball team, coming off a 3-0 win at California last Sunday, will look to continue its momentum this weekend at home against Virginia at 6:30 p.m. on Friday and Virginia Tech Sunday at 1:00 p.m. Both games will be broadcast on ACC Network Extra.
Friday’s match against Virginia will be the annual “Pink Game” as the Irish give support to breast cancer awareness. All fans are encouraged to wear pink and join the fight against breast cancer. The first 500 fans will receive pink pom poms above the stairs past the front gate. Notre Dame will be wearing special white and pink breast cancer jerseys Friday night.
Sunday’s game against Virginia Tech will be the second of this season’s team poster series to the first 250 fans. Stay after the game to get your poster signed by the featured players on the poster.
Notre Dame is 5-7 on the season and 2-2 in Atlantic Coast Conference play this season. Morgan Gaerte, currently sitting with 199 kills this season, is third in the conference in kills per set at 4.63. The Angola, Indiana native also leads the team with seven solo blocks and had a career-high four service aces in the win over Cal.
Sydney Helmers and Mae Kordas also provided lifts for the Irish in the win over the Golden Bears. The duo had nine kills each and combined for 12 digs. Kordas had five blocks while Helmers had three.
HISTORY VS. VIRGINIA
- This is the 15th meeting all-time between Notre Dame and Virginia. The series is tied 7-7.
- The Cavaliers have won the past two meetings, including last season on November 24, 2024 in Charlottesville in three sets.
- Notre Dame’s last win over Virginia was on October 13, 2023, which is also the last time Virginia has been to South Bend. The Irish won in four sets.
HISTORY VS. VIRGINIA TECH
- This is just the 18th meeting all-time between Notre Dame and Virginia Tech. The Irish lead the series 13-4 overall and 11-4 in ACC play.
- Notre Dame swept the two-game series last year, winning in five on the road before a four set win at home in November of 2024.
- The Irish have won 11 of the past 12 meetings against the Hokies.
THE GAERTE PARTY
- The All-ACC Preseason Selection broke the school record for kills in a match against Illinois with 34. Kathy Cunningham’s record of 33 kills had stood for over 37 years. Those 34 kills are tied for the most in a single match so far this season in the country with Racquel Frazier of Hampton.
- She is the just the third player in Irish history to have three consecutive games of 20 or more kills.
- Gaerte is third in the conference and is 14th nationally with 4.63 kills per set. In points per set, she is fourth in the ACC and 15th in the country with 5.19
- The sophomore has had double-digit kills in every single game so far this season (12-consecutive)
FRESH FACES
- The Irish welcome five freshmen to the team, bringing the Irish to a roster size of 20.
- The freshman class consists of Maya Baker (S), Maya Evens (DS/L), Mae Kordas (OH/O), Chichi Nnaji (OH), Sophia Thornburg (OH).
- Baker, who was a two-time Max Preps All-American, leads the team with 216 assists, is fourth on the team with 57 digs and has 12 aces.
- The Irish pair a duo of former high school teammates in the incoming freshman class. Maya Evens and Mae Kordas both played together at Cathedral Catholic High School in Carlsbad, California. The duo was part of two Open State Championships (2022, 2024).
- Evens has played in 40 sets as libero and leads the team with 148 digs on this season. She also has 41 assists.
- Kordas had the best game of her early career at California. In her home state, she had a career-high nine kills, five digs and five blocks in the three set sweep over the Golden Bears.
- Chichi Nnaji and Sophia Thornburg were high school teammates in Dallas, Texas at the Ursuline Academy of Dallas. Thornburg was named to the Prep Volleyball Top 100 National List for the Class of 2025 while both spent time working with the USAV National Team Development Program.
- Nnaji has made an early impact in a short time. She is fourth on the team with 48 kills and has 28 total blocks for 62.5 points.
- The Irish added one player from the portal, outside hitter Sydney Helmers from Texas. She was a member of the 2023 National Champion team as a freshman for the Longhorns. The junior has 86 kills, 65 digs and is third on the team with nine service aces this season.
KEY RETURNERS
- The Irish return 14 to the roster; 5 outside hitters, 3 defensive specialist/liberos, 3 middle blockers, 2 setters and 1 opposite.
- Notre Dame returns all three middle blockers; Mallory Bohl, Anna Bjork and Grace Langer for their sophomore seasons.
- Langer and Bjork have been a dominant presence in the middle for Notre Dame. Langer leads the team with 52 blocks with Bjork right behind her at 43. Offensively, Langer has 54 kills to Bjork’s 42.
- In a homecoming match at Colorado State, Langer tallied nine kills on a career-best .600 hitting percentage to go along with 4.0 blocks.
- Cailey Dockery, Harmony Sample and Lucy Trump have all been consistent rotation pieces this season.
- Dockery has 48 digs on the season, playing in a defensive specialist role while also serving in different spots
- Sample rotates in and out at the setter position, where she has 173 kills this year, which is a career-high, as well as 17 kills.
- Trump has been effective all over the court in her senior season, totaling 78 digs, 33 kills, a team-high 17 service aces, 11 assists and 10 blocks.