This past weekend, the Notre Dame volleyball team faced off against the Duke Blue Devils and the North Carolina Tar Heels. The Irish took a 3-1 loss against North Carolina but responded with a 3-1 win against Duke.
North Carolina
As the Irish celebrated Senior Night, they fell to the Tar Heels after playing four sets.
The two teams went back and forth throughout the first set as they stayed within a point of each other throughout the set. Nearing the end of the set, Notre Dame called a timeout as they were trailing 19-16. Junior outside hitter Avery Ross broke the silence as she added on a kill to close the set score to 19-18, but the Tar Heels battled back as they went on a 6-0 run against the Irish to make the final set score 25-18 and take the first overall point of the night.
The Irish came back in the second set as they started off strong with a 9-7 run against North Carolina. A 5-0 run from the Irish and two kills from senior outside hitter Sydney Palazzolo kept the Irish ahead with a 17-11, lead but North Carolina made a comeback, fighting to make the score 20-18. The Irish responded as they scored two more points to take a 22-18 lead, but the Tar Heels wasted no time in adding their own four points to tie up the score. A service ace and a kill from Palazzolo and a kill from senior setter Phyona Schrader helped the Irish round out the second set and take their first overall point of the night to tie up the score.
North Carolina came out strong heading into the third set as it started out with an 8-3 run against the Irish. While the Tar Heels were able to score three more points for themselves, service aces from Schrader helped the Irish make a comeback to make the score 11-8. North Carolina managed to put on two more points, but the Irish kept on moving as they added on five more points to tie the score at 13. Both teams then continued to fight for the lead as both added on six points for themselves to tie the score at 19 points, but North Carolina pushed ahead with a 6-1 run to make the final set score 25-20.
The fourth and final set of the night started with a kill from Palazzolo, who helped the Irish start out strong with a 6-5 run over the Tar Heels, although North Carolina wasted no time in going on a 5-0 run of its own to make the score 10-6. While Notre Dame added on four more points to tie the score at 10 points, North Carolina wasted no time in going on a 7-0 run to make the score 17-10 over the Irish. As the two teams continued to battle back and forth, the power duo of freshman middle blocker Anna Bjork and Ross sparked a run for the Irish as they both added on a kill for themselves and performed a block to bring the score difference to two at 21-19. While the Irish continued to fight, North Carolina finished the match 25-19 and took the final win of the night, making the final overall score 3-1.
Palazzolo led on the court for the Irish as she set a career high of 25 kills in a match. Ross and freshman middle blocker Mallory Bohl both added on seven kills of their own for the Irish, graduate setter Ella Sandt put up 22 assists, Schrader added on 19 assists and graduate libero Hattie Monson added on a team best of 13 digs.
Duke
Going up against Duke, the Irish battled back and forth, tying multiple times and playing a total of four sets before taking the 3-1 win.
Duke scored the first point, but a service error from Duke tied the score at one, although Monson forced an error on Duke with a service ace to give the Irish their second point of the day. As the two teams continued to fight back and forth for the lead, the Blue Devils pulled ahead, holding up to a seven-point lead. But, with the help of Bjork and three kills from freshman middle blocker Grace Langer, the Irish made a comeback to 18-15. While still trailing, two kills from Palazzolo and a kill from Ross kept the set at a three-point difference with a score of 21-18. Two more kills from Schrader, a kill from Ross, a kill from Bjork and a kill from Langer helped the Irish pull ahead late in the set to make the score 24-23. As the score was tied at 25, two kills from Palazzolo and a kill from Schrader made the final set score 29-27 for the Irish.
A kill from Schrader and two kills from Ross started off the second set strong for the Irish as they battled with Duke for the lead. The Blue Devils then responded as they went on a 3-1 run over the Irish to make the score 6-4, but the Irish responded, going on a 5-1 run of their own to tie up the score at seven. As the Irish continued to battle with the Blue Devils, tying seven more times throughout the set, a kill from Langer closed the score gap to 19-18. After a 6-2 run from the Blue Devils, the final score of the second set was 25-20 in favor of Duke, which tied up the overall score at one.
Palazzolo scored the first point of the third set with a kill, but the Blue Devils responded by forcing an error on the Irish. The Irish went on a 12-4 run against the Blue Devils to make the score 13-6 thanks to multiple kills from Palazzolo, Ross and Bjork. After two points scored by Duke, the Irish wasted no time in responding as Palazzolo added a kill as well as a block performed by Palazzolo and Bohl to stay ahead at 15-8. Duke made an attempt to comeback as it forced errors on the Irish to make the score 20-15, but an attack error from Palazzolo, a kill from Bohl, a kill from Schrader and a kill from Ross gave Notre Dame its second set win of 25-20 to make the overall score 2-1.
The fourth and final set of the night went back and forth between the two teams as they tied multiple times throughout the set. Duke scored the first two points in the fourth set, but with a kill from Palazzolo and a forced attack error from Bjork, the two teams were tied at two points. The two teams continued to stay within a one-point score difference until Duke went on a 4-1 run, making the score 12-8. Langer responded for the Irish with a kill, joining two service aces from Bjork, a kill from Schrader and two forced errors on the Blue Devils to regain the 15-13 lead. As Duke responded to bring the score within one, Notre Dame did not hesitate as it went on a 10-7 run to finish the final set with a score of 25-20 and take the final 3-1 win over the Blue Devils.
Palazzolo led on the court for the Irish as she rounded out the day with a total of 18 kills. Ross followed closely behind as she contributed a total of 15 kills alongside Schrader, who added on 11.
Now 10-15 on the season and 3-13 in Atlantic Coast Conference play, the Irish prepare to head out on the road and face off against Virginia Tech on Nov. 22, starting at 6 p.m.
