BLACKSBURG, Va. — Aubrey Hamilton recorded a match-high 13 kills and the Irish limited Virginia Tech to a hitting percentage of .065 as Notre Dame earned a road sweep (25-18, 25-15, 25-15) of the Hokies on Sunday afternoon inside Cassell Coliseum.
With the win, Notre Dame has now won five of its last six matches and improves to 8-10 overall and 5-3 in ACC play.
Hamilton’s 13 kills came with a mark of .333 while Charley Niego added eight kills and a hitting percentage .364. Zoe Nunez collected 27 assists in the three sets and Nancy Kane added a pair of service aces. As a team, the Irish hit .272 in the three sets of play.
Defensively, Hattie Monson led the Irish with 12 digs and four Irish (Nunez, Niego, Lauren Tarnoff, Lindsey Miller) finished with a pair of blocks each.
HOW IT HAPPENED
First Set
The Hokies broke an 11-all tie with two straight points before the Irish went on a 4-1 run to go up 15-14 at the media timeout. After the break, the Irish pushed the streak to 8-1 with kills by Meuth and Niego and an ace by Kane to extend the lead to 19-14.
Notre Dame used a 4-0 run, including a block by Niego and Tarnoff, to go up 24-16 and a Hokies service error clinched a 25-18 triumph for the Irish to open play.
Second Set
After Virginia Tech jumped out to an 8-4 lead, the Irish rattled off an 11-2 run sparked by two kills and a block by Niego to go up 15-10 at the media timeout.
The Irish came out of the break by earning the next five points, including a pair of kills by Hamilton, to extend the scoring run to 16-2 and earn a 20-10 lead.
An ace by Kiara Schmidt put the Irish at set point before Nunez and Miller combined for a block to clinch a 25-15 victory in the second stanza.
Third Set
The Irish used a 6-1 run, including another ace by Kane and block by Tarnoff, to jump out to a 10-4 lead to open the third frame.
Notre Dame added a 3-0 run to push its lead to 13-7 before back-to-back kills by Niego and Schrader gave the Irish a 21-13 advantage.
The Irish finished the match with another 3-0 run, including an ace by Schrader to clinch another 25-15 triumph and road sweep.
UP NEXT
- The Irish continue ACC play at home next weekend against #4 Pittsburgh and Virginia
- Notre Dame hosts the Panthers on Friday (Oct. 22) at 7 p.m. ET before taking on the Cavaliers on Sunday (Oct. 24) at 1 p.m. ET.
- Both matches will be streamed live via ACC Network Extra.
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