Oct. 11, 2000
The University of Notre Dame volleyball team (13-5, 4-0 in the BIG EAST) earned its fifth straight match victory (15-5, 15-11, 15-11) in a non-conference meeting at Illinois State, Wednesday night. The Irish were led on offense by Kristy Kreher (Birmingham, Mich.) who notched her fourth consecutive match with double-figure kills (18) against the Redbirds. The junior opposite hit .425 in the match, committing just four errors on 31 attempts.
Kreher, who also had 16 digs and seven assists in the match, got the Irish off to a good start in the first game with six kills and two aces. Notre Dame would total six aces in the first game, two each by Kreher, senior Christi Girton (Muncie, Ind.) and sophomore Keara Coughlin (Chicago, Ill.). Setter Denise Boylan (Lisle, Ill.) helped the Irish boast a .303 hitting percentage in the first game with 14 assists. Notre Dame scored six points on aces, six points on Illinois State hitting errors and three points on kills by Marcie Bomhack (2) and Jo Jameyson (Alvin, Texas).
Both teams would end up combining for 23 aces in the match and ISU utilized three of those aces to build a 6-2 lead in game two. The Irish rallied back to take a 13-8 advantage behind the hot hitting of Kreher and Girton who combined for 13 kills in the game. The Irish also continued their stellar team hitting as well. Notre Dame notched a .317 hitting percentage in the game to go up 2-0 in the match as a Redbird hitting error and Kreher kill clinched game two for the Irish.
The Irish continued their strong hitting in the final game. Notre Dame built a 10-4 lead on the strength of two kills each from Girton, Boylan and junior Marcie Bomhack (Waukesha, Wis.). Bomhack ended with 14 kills and seven digs in the match. Illinois State rallied back to cut the Irish lead 13-11, but three consecutive kills from Bomhack closed out the match.
Notre Dame improves to 7-0 on the road in 2000 with the victory. The 20th-ranked Irish move on to face Michigan, Wednesday, October 18, in Ann Arbor.