Sept. 14 was over a month ago. It was also the last time the Irish lost a match, when they lost 3-1 to South Carolina at the Joyce Center. The Irish have done nothing but win, as they won three matches over break, extending their winning streak to 10 matches.
This success has been in large part due to middle blocker Lauren Brewster. Last Tuesday, in the first match over fall break, Brewster racked up a career-high 20 kills and 10 blocks to lead the Irish (17-2, 7-0 in the Big East) over North Carolina (15-7). The Irish took the match in four games (30-27, 26-30, 30-21, 30-26), as they beat the defending ACC champions.
Senior Katie Neff was also in on seven blocks for the Irish, who finished with 17 team blocks. This upped the team average to 3.59 blocks per game, leading Division I.
Meanwhile, Jessica Kinder led the team with 24 digs and Meg Henican added 19. Offensively, Emily Loomis added 10 kills.
In the second game of the break, Brewster came up big once again, with nine kills on a .412 hitting percentage to go along with six blocks, as the Irish swept Rhode Island (9-14) in three games (30-20, 30-23, 30-20) Thursday evening. Setter Kristen Kinder ran the offense for the Irish, finishing with 30 assists and leading her team to a .311 attack percentage.
Middle blocker Lauren Kelbley also added five blocks to go along with ten kills on .333 hitting, while senior Kim Fletcher played all three games in her fourth start of the season. She contributed seven kills and six digs.
Defensively, Jessica Kinder led the way with 11 digs, her 12th match of the season hitting double digits.
The road trip concluded with a trip to bitter Big East rival Boston College (15-6, 2-3), Friday night. There, the Irish overcame poor hitting to defeat the Golden Eagles in three games (30-26, 30-21, 30-23).
Despite the poor hitting performance (.165 hitting percentage on the match), the Irish registered 19 blocks.
Once again, Brewster was unstoppable, getting in on 11 blocks, seven assists and four solos. She missed the Notre Dame record for blocks in a three-game match by two, and the record for solo blocks in a three-game match by one.
This was the fourth time this season she had 10 or more blocks in a match. Before the match, she was third in the country in blocks per game, with 1.67.
Boston College, meanwhile, finished with a .007 hitting percentage, as the Irish net play was too much for them to handle.
The Irish attack was led by Loomis, who had 11 kills on .333 hitting, and Brewster, who had seven on .353 hitting percentage.
Notre Dame is now off to its best start since 1994, and has won 25 of its last 27 games.
