Irish Open Up 2026 Season This Weekend

GAME NOTES

SOUTH BEND, Ind. - Notre Dame volleyball opens up the 2026 season and head coach Salima Rockwell’s fifth season in South Bend this upcoming weekend when the Irish host Ball State and Xavier for a round-robin tournament.

The three days of competition begin when Notre Dame hosts Ball State Friday, August 28 at 6:30 p.m. on ACC Network Extra before Ball State and Xavier face off Saturday, August 29th at 3:00 p.m. in a neutral site match. Notre Dame and Xavier close out the weekend on Sunday, August 30th at 1:00 p.m. ET broadcast on ACC Network Extra. Admission to all Notre Dame regular season matches is free.

HISTORY VS. BALL STATE

• This is the eighth meeting all-time between Notre Dame and Ball State. The Irish lead the all-time series 4-3 and it’s the first meeting since 2019
• Notre Dame beat the Cardinals in four sets back on September 14, 2019 at the Northern Kentucky Invitational - 19-25, 25-16, 25-22, 26-24
• The Irish are 1-1 at home against Ball State, winning last in 1992

HISTORY VS. XAVIER

• This is the 14th meeting all-time between Notre Dame and Xavier. The Irish are 12-1 in the all-time series and have won 10 in a row against the Musketeers, not losing since 1984
• The last meeting between the two programs was on September 14, 2012. Notre Dame beat Xavier in five sets 25-19, 18-25, 25-18, 28-30, 15-6
• Notre Dame is 6-0 all-time at home against Xavier, including 2012’s win

HELMERS LEADS

• Sydney Helmers returns to Notre Dame after posting 229 kills, 157 digs, 36 blocks and 25 service aces in 2025 after transferring from Texas
• She posted a career-best 19 kills in the win over Virginia Tech last October and had her first-career double-double last September against Syracuse with 12 kills and 10 digs
• She was named to the All-ACC Academic Team in 2025, the third different conference she has earned academic honors in (At Texas: SEC-2024, Big 12-2023) She was also a member of the 2023 National Champion team with the Longhorns

AT THE NET

• Anna Bjork and Grace Langer enter their junior seasons at Notre Dame
• Bjork logged a career-high and team-leading 125 blocks last season to go along with 106 kills, becoming a force up the middle
• She had a career-high 10 blocks at Georgia Tech and her 1.23 blocks per set was the 10th-highest clip in the ACC
• Langer was the only Irish to start all 28 matches last season, a season where she tallied 112 blocks, 95 kills, 26 digs, 10 assists and five service aces
• In the season opener last year against Santa Clara, Langer put up 11 block assists, a career-high. She had two games with 10 or more blocks last season (Pitt, October 17)
• In a homecoming match last year at Colorado State, Langer tallied nine kills on a career-best .600 hitting percentage to go along with 4.0 blocks

SOPHOMORE RISERS

• Maya Baker, Maya Evens, Mae Kordas and Chichi Nnaji all made impacts during their freshman campaigns in 2025
• Baker led the team with 549 assists (5.18 a/s) to go along with 150 digs and 21 service aces. She notched her first career double-double with 21 assists and 13 digs against Villanova (August 31) and had a career-high 31 assists in the sweep over Duke (October 26)
• Evens appeared in 98 sets last year and led the team with 283 digs. In the season-opener last year against Santa Clara, she totaled a career-high 25 digs and was named to the Catholic Challenge All-Tournament Team
• Kordas came on strong during conference play last season, having 107 of her 112 kills last year come against conference foes. She posted back-to-back games with double-digit kills in October and had a career-best 13 kills in the road finale at Virginia Tech (November 26)
• Nnaji appeared in 25 matches with 13 starts in 2025, totaling 125 kills, 65 blocks and 40 digs. She recorded games of 10 kills against Santa Clara (August 29) and Pitt (October 17)

FRESH FACES 

• The Irish bring in seven newcomers to the 2026 squad; four freshman and three transfers
• Stella Adeyemi, Angie Desamours and Chloe Hooker all transferred in following stops at previous schools
• Adeyemi played her last three seasons at Hawaii, where she totaled 358 kills and 378 points over 46 matches played. 250 of her kills came during her sophomore season in 2024
• An outside hitter from Papillion, Nebraska, Adeyemi started the first 10 matches for the Rainbow Warriors last year before a season-ending injury ended her junior campaign. She still recorded double-figure kills in five matches to go along with three double-doubles in that short span
• Hooker will make the transition from the sand to the court this season. The former beach All-American for Loyola Marymount won back-to-back West Coast Conference Defensive Player of the Year honors the last two seasons and is the program’s leading wins holder at the West Coast Conference Beach Volleyball Tournament
• Desmaours, a former LSU commit, attended and played volleyball at Bullis School in Potomac, Maryland, where she was named AA Division All-League in 2023 and helped Bullis win the ISL Championship in 2024 She totaled 109 kills and 41 service aces in 2024.
• Rockwell’s incoming freshman class consists of Carla Mercado, Isabella Sangha, Hailie Vaughn and Portia Zeidler
• Mercado, the program’s first-ever player from Puerto Rico, was a gold medal winner at the Pan American Cup U17 and a silver medal winner at the NORCECA Championship U17 while representing Puerto Rico on an international level.
• Sangha, who will play both volleyball and women’s basketball for the Irish, was the Sun-Sentinel Broward County 7A-5A Player of the Year for volleyball and was ranked the No.1 middle blocker in the state. During her senior season, she recorded 266 kills (3.4 k/s) with a .378 hitting percentage and 65 total blocks. PrepDig ranked her the 134th best player in the 2025 class. She was a top-100 recruit in women’s basketball by ESPNW, On3 and Prep Girls Hoops Rankings
• Vaughn, from Overland Park, Kansas, was a two-time Kansas Volleyball Association All-State First Team member. She was also named to the AVCA All-Region Team (Region 8) and was a three-time all-academic performer in the classroom
• Ziedler was a four year starter at Los Gatos High School in Los Gatos, California. She was a three-time SCVAL All-League First Team honoree and was ranked the 43rd overall player in the state of California by Prep Dig California . Her dad, Caltyon, competed in high jump at Cal