Sept. 7, 2001

The 20th-ranked University of Notre Dame volleyball team suffered its first loss of the season (28-30, 23-30, 26-30) in three games to #7 UCLA at the U.S. Bank/Arby’s Touranment in Lincoln, Neb., Friday afternoon. The Irish will face #1 Nebraska on the Huskers home court Saturday at 1 p.m.

Notre Dame was not overwhelmed by the seventh-ranked Bruins, but the Irish were unable to sustain their offense during crucial points of the match to stay in contention for the victory. Both teams came out strong in the first game of the match, as neither group could manage more than a two-point lead. With the score knotted at 16, Irish freshman Emily Loomis (Fort Wayne, Ind.) slammed a kill, followed by senior Marcie Bomhack’s (Waukesha, Wis.) solo block to put the Irish ahead by two points.

Notre Dame would enjoy its two-point cushion until an Irish attack error and a kill from Bruin All-American Kristee Porter tied the score at 22. After some back-and-forth action with both teams performing spectacular digs, Kim Fletcher (St. Louis, Mo.) sent a kill cleanly through the Bruin defense and the Irish owned a 28-27 lead.

UCLA called a timeout to regroup and the Bruins got a kill from Lauren Fendrick and a block from Porter to advance to game point. Middle blocker Angela Eckmier was forced to serve for UCLA as the Bruins were running short of substitutions in the hotly contested game. Eckmier answered the challenge, though, and ripped her first ace of the year to secure the game one victory for her team.

Both teams fought back and forth again in the first half of game two. Notre Dame built a two-point advantage at 14-12, but Porter, Fendrick and Ashley Bowles helped UCLA jump ahead 23-20. The Irish were unable to recover and six Bruin kills and an Irish attack error later, UCLA found themselves with a 2-0 advantage in the match.

Following the pattern of the first two games, the Irish and Bruins stayed close to each other in the first half of game three. But once again, Porter took control of the match. A block and two consecutive kills from the UCLA outside hitter gave her team a 25-19 lead that the Irish were unable to overcome and Bowles would eventually put the match away for UCLA with three consecutive kills.

Bomhack, Fletcher and Goralski all scored eight kills in the match to lead the Irish offensive effort. Porter and Bowles totaled 17 a piece for the Bruins, while Frendrick added 14.

Notre Dame returns to action in the tournament tomorrow against #1 Nebraska at 1 p.m..