Sept. 6, 2014
NOTRE DAME, Ind. – The IUPUI volleyball team tallied seven service aces and freshman right side hitter Korissa Waelbroeck posted nine kills and four blocks, while hitting .467, to help lead the Jaguars to a 3-0 (25-13, 25-21, 25-23) victory over the University of Notre Dame volleyball team at Purcell Pavilion Saturday afternoon in the fifth match of the Golden Dome Invitational.
After losing a 3-1 heartbreaker to Washington State Friday night, the Irish didn’t look themselves against the Jaguars as they hit just .138 for the match and had no service aces compared to six service errors. Notre Dame also posted just 34 kills on the match.
IUPUI, meanwhile, tallied 42 kills and had 11 blocks in addition to the seven service aces. Waelbroeck looked strong for much of the contest as she tied for the team high in kills and also added four blocks. Junior outside hitter Kaitlyn Hickey also produced nine kills, while adding eight digs and four blocks. Fellow outside hitter Gabrielle Fisher hit .500 with six kills. She also had four blocks and three digs. Libero Beth Howard more than doubled the next best dig total, as she had 20 to go along with two service aces.
For Notre Dame, freshman Sam Fry had team highs in kills (8), hitting percentage (.368) and blocks (6).
The Irish (0-4) close out the first home tournament of the year at 2 p.m. Sunday against Western Michigan (3-2). Earlier in the day, Washington State (5-1) clinched the Golden Dome Invitational title with a 3-1 win over the Broncos. The all-tournament team and final tournament standings will be announced after Sunday’s match.
SET-BY-SET RECAP
It was all Jaguars in the first frame as the blitzed the Irish, 25-13. IUPUI hit .306 compared to .045 for Notre Dame. Waelbroeck hit .800 with four kills. There were four ties and a lead change early, but a 12-2 run in the middle of the set put the Jaguars in control.
Notre Dame looked better in the second set, trailing by just two at 16-14 and in control of the serve. However, Waelbroeck had a kill, Notre Dame followed with an attack error and the Jaguars tallied back-to-back service aces to push the lead to 20-14. Notre Dame tried to rally towards the end of the set, but a couple of critical Irish errors late gave IUPUI its final two points of the set. Waelbroeck hit .667 with four kills to lead the Jaguars, while Howard had nine digs.
IUPUI closed out the victory in the third set as it took a 14-14 tie and made it 20-15 just a few points later. The Irish tried to rally near the end of the frame, moving to within one at 23-22, but two kills by Fisher ended the match. Notre Dame out-hit the Jaguars in the third set, but had two service errors compared to two aces for the visitors that proved to be the difference. The third-set loss spoiled good offensive sets by Fry and Kuhn, who had three kills each without an error.
–Russell Dorn, Assistant Media Relations Director
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