SOUTH BEND, Ind. – The Notre Dame volleyball team battled 23rd-ranked North Carolina hard, but ultimately fell in three sets Friday night in Purcell Pavilion.
Sydney Helmers paced the Irish, logging a game-high 12 kills to go along with 10 and four blocks. It was the third double-double of the season for the senior from Hebron, Kentucky.
Both Angie Desamours and Chichi Nnaji delivered lifts off the bench for Notre Dame in this one. Desamorurs logged six kills, with a majority coming in critical moments to swing momentum. Nnaji posted five kills and four digs to go along with a block.
Seven different Irish tallied kills on the night, with five of them logging four or more.
Defensively, the Irish totaled seven team blocks, with Anna Bjork totaling four and Grace Langer tallying three. Maya Evens posted 16 digs, six of them in the first set.
Notre Dame will look to bounce back Sunday when the Irish host Duke at 1:00 p.m. on ACC Network Extra. Fans can collect the second of four Irish volleyball poster giveaways and participate in postgame autographs. Admission is free for all regular-season Notre Dame volleyball matches.
How it happened
Set 1:
- An early 5-0 Tar Heels run gave UNC an 8-2 lead to start the match
- At the technical timeout, North Carolina led 15-10
- The Irish called their second timeout of the set, trailing 19-10
- UNC never looked back, winning the opening set 25-15
- Anna Bjork notched three kills in the opening set while Maya Evens had six digs
Set 2:
- Notre Dame won the first three points of the set courtesy of kills from Sydney Helmers and Chichi Nnaji
- The Irish extended their lead, up 9-5 after the seventh UNC service error of the contest
- A 3-0 run, capped off by a Bjork kill, made it 13-8 Notre Dame
- The Irish kept pushing, winning three of four points for an 18-12 lead to force a Tar Heel timeout
- UNC answered with a 4-0 run out of the timeout to cut the Irish lead to two
- The Tar Heels tied it up at 18 after a block
- UNC took the lead at 21-19 following an 8-1 run
- Kills from Angie Desamours and Nnaji tied the set up at 21
- Both teams went back and forth with the set tied at 24
- Notre Dame called timeout down 26-27
- The Tar Heels blocked an Irish attack attempt, their 11th block of the match, to win the set 28-26
Set 3:
- North Carolina won the first three points of the set off three consecutive kills
- Bjork delivered the first ace of the game as Notre Dame went on a 3-0 run to tie it
- Desamours delivered a pair of kills off the bench to cut the lead to 9-8 UNC
- North Carolina led 15-12 at the technical timeout
- Nnaji floated a kill to tie the set at 16 and force a UNC timeout
- Helmers’ ninth kill of the game tied the set at 18 apiece
- Multiple great defensive errors led to a Desmours kill to tie the set at 22 before Helmers flushed her 10th kill of the match to make it 22-21 Notre Dame
- Back-to-back Tar Heel points forced an Irish timeout down 23-22
- A kill from Helmers and a block from Bjork and Desamours gave Irish set point at 24-23
- But UNC wrapped up the win, scoring a block to clinch the set, 26-24, and the match