BERKELEY, Calif. – The Notre Dame volleyball team secured their fourth sweep of the season and second in conference play as the Irish beat Cal in straight-sets, 25-23, 25-17, 25-14. Notre Dame is now 5-7 on the season and 2-2 in conference play and on the road.
The Irish got impactful offensive outputs all over the floor Sunday afternoon. Morgan Gaerte led the team with 11 kills, extending her streak of double-digit kill games to 12 games.
Mae Kordas, playing in her home state of California, recorded a career-high nine kills on .500 hitting percentage. The freshman also had five digs and five blocks in the best game of her early career.
Sydney Helmers matched Kordas with nine kills, including the second-set clincher from the back row. Her 86 kills on the season are the second-most on the team. Grace Langer added six kills of her own and a team-high seven blocks.
Notre Dame had eight service aces on the afternoon, four of them coming from Gaerte. Maya Baker and Lucy Trump tallied two each. Baker dished out 17 assists as well.
The Irish will return to the home courts the next two weekends. Notre Dame hosts Virginia on Friday, October 10th in the annual pink game before Virginia Tech comes to town Sunday. Friday’s match is set for a 6:30 p.m. first serve while Sunday will begin at 1 p.m. Both games will be broadcast on ACC Network Extra.
How it happened
First set:
- After falling behind early, a 5-0 Irish run tied the opening set at 18-18 all.
- Down 22-23, Notre Dame goes on 3-0 run to win the first set
- Helmers Kill, Gaerte/Bjork block, Gaerte Kill
- Irish had 16 kills in opening set on a .348 hitting percentage
- Four kills each from Helmers and Langer
Second set:
- Irish jumped out to 4-1 lead following kills from Helmers and Kordas.
- A 3-0 run, highlighted by back-to-back aces from Maya Baker, forces a Cal timeout with the score 10-6 Notre Dame
- The Irish had four aces in the second set (Baker twice, Trump, Gaerte)
- A late burst from Cal made it 24-17, but Helmers’ seventh kill of the game clinched the second set for the Irish
Third set:
- Notre Dame started the third set on a 8-1 run, extended it to a 12-3 start
- Five of the first eight points were from kills, three from Gaerte
- Back-to-back aces from Gaerte capped a 4-0 Irish run to take a 20-8 lead
- Gaerte finished the match with her 11th kill for the 25-14 third set win