Nov. 13, 2011
SYRACUSE, N.Y. – On the brink of seeing its season come to an end, Syracuse pulled out a 3-1 (25-23, 26-24, 24-26, 25-16) win over Notre Dame at the Women’s Gymnasium on Sunday. Syracuse’s win on its Senior Day likely secured a spot for the Orange in the upcoming BIG EAST Conference Volleyball Championship next week in Marquette.
Having already earned a spot in the BIG EAST Conference Tournament, the Irish (15-11 overall, 8-6 BIG EAST) will find out specifics in regards to its seeding arrangement later Sunday evening.
Syracuse (19-11, 8-6) also downed Notre Dame, 3-1, in the two program’s first-ever meeting in 1981 but the Irish had won the last 18 contests heading into today.
The Orange also snapped a 15-match BIG EAST regular season drought against Notre Dame
Senior Kristen Dealy carried Notre Dame with 14 kills and 11 digs with sophomore Andrea McHugh adding 12 kills and four aces.
Senior Frenchy Silva exerted herself with 25 digs though Syracuse found a way to post a .258 team hitting clip, including a .471 average in the fourth set.
Emily Betteridge dished out 53 assists for Syracuse as Lindsay McCabe (17), Noemie Lefebvre (17) and Andrea Fisher (14) each tallied double-digit kills.
Notre Dame hit .157 as sophomore Maggie Brindock totaled 35 assists and five kills with eight digs.
The Irish controlled most of the first set and stayed ahead, 21-19, when Brindock went over on the second touch. Syracuse took the next four points until a McHugh kill and an Orange error made it 24-23 in favor of the home unit.
Syracuse called a timeout and returned to the floor to see McCabe bounce the set-winning kill.
Notre Dame had to play from behind after falling behind, 9-4, in the second. The Irish turned to Dealy to turn on the jets to help overcome an 18-11 margin.
Dealy teamed with sophomore Sam Brown for a block at 18-13 and added four kills to knot the frame at 21-21 but the effort went for naught as the Orange soon took a 2-0 lead into intermission.
McHugh fired off back-to-back aces to tie the third at 5-5 and another to give Notre Dame a 7-5 lead.
Brindock found junior Hilary Eppink on the loop for an 18-14 lead with Syracuse countering by forcing an Irish timeout after back-to-back blocks brought the Orange within one, 20-19.
The Orange would tie the set at 24-24 when the home squad had an errant swing and then Brindock and Eppink knocked down a block at set point.
Syracuse scored the first three points of the fourth and kept that lead for most of the final frame en route to the four-set win.
–ND–