SOUTH BEND, Ind. - The Notre Dame volleyball dropped Friday night’s season opener in five sets to Ball State, 25-8, 25-21, 19-25, 21-25, 12-15 inside Purcell Pavilion.
Senior Sydney Helmers led the Irish offensively, logging 16 kills. Junior Anna Bjork added 11 kills on a .600 hitting percentage clip to go along with eight blocks.
Making her collegiate debut, freshman Isabella Sangha notched double-digit kills, recording 10 kills and 7 blocks to begin her Irish career.
Senior Lily Fenton posted 22 assists on the night, with sophomore Maya Baker right behind her at 19 as both setters worked to set up the Notre Dame offense.
Sophomore libero Maya Baker put up 24 digs, one off her career-high from last season. She also added five assists and a service ace.
The Irish will look to bounce back Sunday at 1:00 p.m. against Xavier inside Purcell Pavilion. Admission to all regular season Notre Dame matches is free.
How it happened
Set 1:
- Notre Dame jumped out to a 5-1 lead to start the season, started off with a Helmers’ kill for the first Irish point of the season
- The Irish continued its momentum, scoring six of the next eight points to force the first Ball State timeout at 11-3 Notre Dame
- The Irish dominated the first set, winning 25-8
- Notre Dame logged 12 kills in the opening set on .545 hitting, led by five from Helmers and two each from Mae Kordas, Chichi Nnaji and Anna Bjork
- Lily Fenton and Maya Baker both dished out four assists in the set
- Ball State was silenced to a -.147 hitting percentage behind four Notre Dame blocks in the season’s opening set
Set 2:
- Ball State responded, taking six of the first eight points to start the second set
- The Irish called their first timeout of the set, trailing 8-13.
- Out of the timeout, Notre Dame went on a 4-0 run, fueled exclusively by Irish kills - two from Isabella Sangha and one apiece from Bjork and Helmers
- Ball State led 15-12 at the technical timeout
- Powered by a 6-2 run, the Irish took their first lead of the set at 18-17
- Three consecutive kills for Helmers pushed the Notre Dame lead to 23-19 to force a Cardinals timeout
- Up 24-21, a long rally that ended in a Sangha kill won the second set for the Irish, 25-21, to go up 2-0 in the match
- Notre Dame tallied 18 kills in the second set, totaling 30 kills on a .426 hitting percentage through the first two sets
- Helmers was in double-digits kills after two sets with 10, followed by Bjork’s six and Sangha and Nnaji both with five
- Maya Evens had 10 digs after two sets, including multiple diving efforts, while Fenton accumulated 13 assists after the pair of sets
Set 3:
- A Ball State 5-0 run early in the third set gave the Cardinals a 7-4 advantage
- At the technical timeout, Ball State led 15-9
- The Cardinals extended their lead to 21-12 in the set to force an Irish timeout
- Ball State held off a 7-2 Notre Dame run late in the third to win the set, 25-19
Set 4:
- A solo block from Grace Langer paired with kills from Sangha and Bjork catapulted Notre Dame to an early 5-2 lead
- Both teams exchanged blows back and forth as the Irish led 14-11 at the first Cardinals’ timeout of the set
- Out of the technical timeout, Ball State went on a 5-0 run to take a 18-16 lead
- The Cardinals extend the run with three more points to make it 21-16 to force an Irish timeout
- After a Ball State service error, Notre Dame ripped off three of the next four points to cut the deficit to three and force a Cardinals’ timeout
- Ball State held off the Irish to force a fifth set, 25-21
Set 5:
- With the score knotted at three, a block by Bjork and Helmers gave Notre Dame a 4-3 lead
- Bjork followed it up with her 11th kill to make it 5-3
- A 3-0 Ball State run put the Cardinals back up, 6-5. They forced an Irish timeout up 8-6 a few points later
- Notre Dame called its final timeout after Ball State won four of the next six points. The Cardinals led 12-8
- Two straight Irish points - a kill from Sangha and a block by Sangha and Langer - pressured the first Ball State timeout of the fifth set with the score 12-10
- The Cardinals finished off the win, taking the final set 15-12