Sept. 6, 2002
The University of Notre Dame volleyball team (3-1) suffered its first loss of the season to Loyola Marymount (3-1) during the first round of the LMU Classic in four games (30-26, 16-30, 23-30, 24-30) late Friday night. The Irish will face Colorado and Saint Louis on Saturday as the tournament continues.
Inaccurate hitting doomed the Irish against the Lions, as Notre Dame managed just a .106 team hitting percentage in the match. Notre Dame also had a hard time containing Loyola Marymount’s Kristen Gallup, who scored a match-high 26 kills and collected 15 digs.
Notre Dame was led by juniors Jessica Kinder and Katie Neff with 12 kills each. Sophomore outside hitter Emily Loomis added eight kills, while senior libero Janie Alderete posted a match-high 18 digs. Kinder also had a double-double in the match, adding 10 digs on defense.
The Irish were solid at the net once again, blocking over 10 shots for the fourth time this season (12 team blocks against LMU on Friday night). Loyola was able to seize control of the match in game two, however, posting a .324 hitting mark (14 kills, three errors, 34 swings), while the Irish offense ended up with 11 kills and 11 hitting errors.
Notre Dame will continue the tournament against Colorado at 10 a.m. west coast time (12 noon local), then face Saint Louis at 5 p.m. (7 p.m. local).