In their final game before conference play, Notre Dame took on No.19 Michigan in a home-and-home series over the weekend. Friday night’s contest in Ann Arbor, Michigan saw the Irish (6-4) jump out to an early 8-3 lead thanks, in part, to a 7-1 run. With the offense clicking Notre Dame would propel themselves to a 17-11 lead before Michigan (11-0) would call a timeout. Following the timeout the tides would turn as the Wolverines clawed their way back into the contest, going on a 14-5 run before taking the Opening set 25-22.
The second set saw some competitive back and forth action in the early going as the teams traded points. Tied at 16, the Wolverines began to pull away, going on a 9-1 run to close out the second set 25-17 and take a 2-0 set lead over the Irish.
The third set would be a mirror image of the second set, as once again both teams traded points with each other before Michigan would pull away. The Wolverines finished off the Irish on an 11-5 run to complete the sweep and take the first match of the home and home series.
Freshmen outside hitter Charley Niego and junior outside hitter Jemma Yeadon combined for 17 kills, while senior libero Ryann Dejarld added 19 digs to go along with freshmen Setter Zoe Nunez’s 27 assists during the match.
Sunday's contest at the Joyce Center would begin just as the opening set did on Friday with the Irish coming out hot early opening on a 7-3 run. Michigan then responded to knot things up at 9 apiece. The two teams would continue to battle it out before the Wolverines ultimately took the first set 25-20.
The second set showed each team’s competitive nature as they both continued to trade points with each other. It wasn’t until late in the second set when Michigan was able to find a way to edge out the Irish 25-23 to take the second set.
After getting out to an early 8-4 lead the Irish never looked back as they took the third set, 25-19 — Michigan's first set loss of the season.
The Irish carried their momentum into the fourth set as they once again jumped out to an early lead. But this time the Wolverines would come back to tie things up at 12 all before ultimately taking both the set and the match 25-19.
Junior Jemma Yeadon let the team in kills with 15 and added 11 digs and two blocks for a double-double. Freshmen Charley Niego and Sydney Bent both finished with their first career double-double’s while also both setting career highs for kills in a match. Niego had 13 kills and added 14 digs to go along with two blocks. With Bent also finished with 13 kills, 12 digs, 3 assists and 2 blocks. Senior Ryann Dejarld contribution of 20 digs allowed her to surpass 2,000 digs for her in her career. The most in program history.
Notre Dame will look to get back into the win column when they begin conference play this Friday as the travel to Chapel Hill to take on North Carolina at 6:30 pm.
