LOUISVILLE, Ky. – The Notre Dame Volleyball team’s late rally came up short Saturday afternoon at the KFC Yum! Center, as the Irish fell in three to eighth-ranked Louisville 11-25, 20-25, 25-27. Notre Dame is now 8-12 overall and 5-7 in Atlantic Coast Conference play.
The Irish gave the Cardinals everything they could handle in the third set, including having the lead multiple times in the set. Notre Dame also fended off two match points, forcing a crowd of 7,984 to return to their seats.
Morgan Gaerte led the Irish with 10 kills, extending her streak of games with double-digit kills to 20.
Sydney Helmers and Lucy Trump, both from Kentucky, played in their home state. Helmers had eight kills, six in the second set, while Trump recorded four kills and two block assists.
Lily Fenton saw extended time at the setter position, notching a career-high 16 assists. The junior also had seven digs in just her third career game played.
The Irish will continue its string of road games on Friday, November 7th at Wake Forest at 6:30 p.m. on ACC Network Extra.
How it happened
Set 1
- Louisville opened up the match on a 5-0 run to force a Notre Dame timeout. The Cardinals extended their lead to 11-0 when the Irish took their second timeout.
- The Irish broke their scoreless drought with a kill from Lucy Trump. Trump finished the set with two kills off the bench.
- Lily Fenton notched six assists in the first set, tying her output from Wednesday’s match.
- Louisville won the first set 25-11.
Set 2
- Notre Dame came out strong in the second set, opening up on a 4-1 run highlighted by back-to-back aces from Anna Bjork.
- Both teams went back and forth after that, with Louisville taking a 15-14 lead at the media timeout.
- The Cardinals extended their lead to 20-17 at the next break of action
- Louisville never looked back, winning the second set 25-20 to take a 2-0 lead.
- Sydney Helmers had six kills in the set.
Set 3
- A 3-0 run, capped off by a Bjork kill, gave Notre Dame an 8-7 lead to force a Louisville timeout.
- The Irish used a 4-0 run to take a 16-14 lead later in the set. Grace Langer had a pair of blocks during the scoring spurt.
- An ace that fell off the top of the net straight down tied the set for the Cardinals at 20-20
- A 3-1 Louisville run forced an Irish timeout with the Cardinals up 23-22.
- Facing match point, a Morgan Gaerte kill followed by a block from Langer and Trump tied the set at 24-all, forcing a Louisville timeout.
- Another Gaerte kill fended off another match point to tie it up at 25-25.
- However, the Cardinals prevailed in the end, winning the set 27-25.