Nov. 6, 2011
NOTRE DAME, Ind. – Notre Dame dominated Rutgers in every facet of the game to notch a 3-0 (25-15, 25-11, 25-17) Senior Day victory Sunday at Purcell Pavilion. The BIG EAST Conference volleyball win improved Notre Dame’s overall record to 15-9 (8-4 BIG EAST) heading into the final week of the regular season with matches in store at Marquette (Nov. 11) and Syracuse (Nov. 13).
The Irish paid homage to seniors Frenchy Silva and Kristen Dealy prior to the contest and the duo responded with outstanding performances in their final regular-season home contest.
Both Silva and Dealy reached significant milestones earlier in the season which will be etched in the Notre Dame record books for years to come. Dealy joined the 1,000-1,000 club on Sept. 16, becoming the eighth player in program history with 1,000 kills and 1,000 digs. Silva scooped her 1,000 career dig on Aug. 28 and currently ranks sixth on the all-time charts with over 1,300 digs.
As longtime friends and teammates, the pair is the only set of teammates in program history to average over 3.00 digs/set apiece.
Dealy finished today’s contest with six kills – including a converted strike on match point – with seven digs and three of Notre Dame’s 11.0 blocks. Silva had 10 digs and an ace.
Notre Dame bettered Rutgers (8-21, 1-11) in hitting pct. (.356-.060), assists (41-23), digs (51-41) and blocks (11.0-5.0).
Freshman Jeni Houser led Notre Dame in kills for the second straight match, totaling nine on 15 attempts without an error. Houser added three blocks. Classmate Toni Alugbue had a match-high two aces with seven kills, 10 digs and six block assists.
Bouncing kills at will was junior Hilary Eppink, who rocked eight beams at a .545 rate with four blocks.
Five of Eppink’s kills came in the first set when the Irish hit .353 as a squad.
Sophomore Andrea McHugh punched in five kills and a pair of blocks but was just as efficient on the defensive side of play with a match-best 14 digs.
Notre Dame hit .480 in the second set – its best single-game clip on the day – while holding Rutgers to a -.080 pct. over the same stretch.
Each of the seven Irish players who had at least one swing in the second set also tallied a kill.
–ND–