Irish Fall Sunday To Cal

SOUTH BEND, Ind. – The Notre Dame volleyball team fell Sunday afternoon to Cal in three sets, 18-25, 15-25, 15-25, inside Purcell Pavilion.

Coming off a career-high 19 kills in Friday’s match against Stanford, Mae Kordas posted a team-high 12 against Cal, six coming in the first set. Sydney Helmers added eight kills herself while Chichi Nnaji chipped in six.

The homestand continues as Notre Dame welcomes No. 25 North Carolina Friday, October 16 at 6:30 p.m. for the annual pink match before Duke comes to town Sunday, October 18 at 1 p.m. both matches inside Purcell Pavilion and streamed on ACC Network Extra. Admission to all regular season Notre Dame matches is free.

How it happened:

Set 1:

• Both teams went back and forth to begin the match, with the score knotted up at six early
• A 6-0 Golden Bears’ run made it 13-9 and forced the first Irish timeout of the game
• Cal led 15-10 at the technical timeout
• The Irish deficit grew to six as Notre Dame called timeout down 16-22
•  Cal went on to win the opening set 25-18
• Mae Kordas had six kills in the first set on a .385 hitting percentage

Set 2:

• The second set play out similar to the first, with both teams squared at five early
• Both sides continued to exchange blows as an Isabella Sangha kill tied the set up at 10
• A 3-0 Golden Bears run made it 13-10 Cal to force an Irish timeout
• The momentum rolled for Cal as a 6-0 run closed the set for Cal, 25-15

Set 3:

• After Chichi Nnaji flushed a kill to open the set, Cal went on a 4-0 run to take a 4-1 lead
• Kordas tied the set up at six with her 11th kill of the match
• Notre Dame called timeout after a Cal 5-0 run made it 11-7
• The Irish won four of the next five points to close the gap to 12-11 Cal
• The set of runs continued as Cal went on a 3-0 burst to make it 15-11 at the technical timeout
• Winners of 9 of the last 11 points at the time, Cal extended its lead to 21-13 to force another Notre Dame timeout
• The Golden Bears went on to win the set 25-15