ND Volleyball
Notre Dame loses to Syracuse, beats Boston College in weekend road trip
Observer Sports Staff | Monday, November 4, 2019
Notre Dame’s women’s volleyball team rallied after a Friday loss to Syracuse to win against Boston College on Sunday in a weekend on the road. Both games were in-conference, bringing the Irish to a 9-3 record in the ACC and a 16-6 record overall.
Despite a strong start against Syracuse, winning the first set 25-14, the Irish dropped the match after losing the next three consecutive sets in a series of close games.
The first set began with both teams picking up two points, followed by a 5-0 run from Notre Dame. They held onto the lead for the rest of the set, never allowing Syracuse within striking distance. The Irish took advantage of the Orange’s nine errors while only committing one itself. Junior libero Madison Cruzado won the final point on her second ace of the day.
Junya Kanemitsu | The Observer The second set was a much closer game. With 16 lead changes throughout the set and neither team getting more than three points ahead, Notre Dame and Syracuse exchanged short runs of point gains. The Irish took the lead at 15-12 after two consecutive kills from freshman outside hitter Caroline Meuth, and after a run by Syracuse, the Irish retook the lead at 23-21, driven by three kills from sophomore right side hitter Sydney Bent.
Syracuse then took the third and fourth sets, winning 25-23 and 25-19, respectively. Notre Dame was up 23-21 after back-and-forth play in the third set, but Syracuse won four straight points to win the set. In the fourth, the Irish went up 3-2 early but could not hold on to the lead and would trail for the rest of the set.
The Orange racked up 55 kills and six aces throughout the match to the Irish’s 46 kills and seven aces. Bent led the team in kills, tallying 13 for the day, followed closely by Meuth and sophomore outside hitter Charley Niego, both of whom had 11 kills. Cruzado and graduate student setter Paige McKnight each served three aces in the conference game.
The Irish traveled from New York to Massachusetts for the Sunday afternoon game at Boston College and beat them in five sets. After the Eagles took an early lead in the first set, the Irish never made up the point difference and dropped the set 25-21. A strong performance from Bent and Niego in the second set made the difference. Both hitters had several kills to take the lead late in the closely-fought set and win 25-22.
After losing the third set, Notre Dame rallied from a three-point deficit in the fourth on a 6-0 run to win 25-21 and dominated in the fifth set behind another 6-0 run, taking down the Eagles 15-5.
Niego led the team with 22 kills throughout the match; Bent saw 19 kills, and Meuth recorded 12. Sophomore setter Zoe Nunez recorded 54 assists and two aces.
The Irish will travel to play at Florida State this Friday and at Miami (Florida) this Sunday. Notre Dame is currently tied with FSU and Georgia Tech for second place in the ACC standings.
