ATHENS, Ga. - The Notre Dame volleyball team fell Tuesday night to Georgia in four sets, 25-20, 20-25, 9-25, 17-25 to drop to 1-3 on the season.
Sydney Helmers led the way offensively, totaling 13 kills, seven digs and two service aces. Helmers has been in double figures kills in all four matches this season.
Angie Desamours put up a career-high 11 kills to go along with three digs and a block. Chichi Nnaji also was in double figures with 10 kills, tying her career-high.
Defensively, Maya Evens led the team with 13 digs while Grace Langer had four blocks. Mae Kordas and Anna Bjork chipped in three blocks each as well.
Lily Fenton logged 19 assists and six digs and Maya Baker contributed 13 assists and eight digs as both Irish setters continued to see the floor.
Notre Dame returns to action this weekend for the Steve Baumrind Invitational hosted by the College of Charleston in Charleston, South Carolina. The Irish open the three-day tournament against Northern Kentucky on Friday at 4:30 p.m.
How it happened
Set 1:
- Kills from Angie Desamours and Chichi Nnaji followed by a service ace from Maya Evens vaulted Notre Dame to a 4-2 early lead
- The Irish led 15-11 at the technical timeout behind three kills from Desamours and a pair of kills each from Nnaji and Sydney Helmers
- A 3-0 Irish run, highlighted by a Chloe Hooker Ace, made it 19-13 Notre Dame and forced a Georgia timeout
- The Bulldogs used a 5-1 scoring stint to cut the gap to 22-20 Irish
- It was too little too late as back-to-back kills from Helmers followed by a Bulldogs’ attack error clinched the opening set for Notre Dame, 25-20
- Five different Irish recorded kills, led by five from Helmers
Set 2:
- Up 5-4, Georgia went on a quick 4-0 burst to take a 9-4 lead early in the set
- The Bulldogs led 15-9 at the technical timeout
- Both teams exchanged points throughout the rest of the set, as Georgia tied the match up with a 25-20 second set win
Set 3:
- Georgia opened the set with 11 straight points to force the Irish into using both of their timeouts
- The Bulldogs led 15-3 at the technical timeout
- Georgia won the set 25-9 to take a 2-1 match lead
Set 4:
- A pivotal set opened up with a 3-2 Irish lead after kills from Nnaji and Desamours
- Later in the set, Georgia scored five of six points to take an 11-5 lead
- A Bulldog service ace forced an Irish timeout with Notre Dame trailing 7-14
- The momentum continued for Georgia, leading 20-10
- The Bulldogs went on to win the set 25-17