After facing tough competition at home against then No. 6 Pitt and No. 8 SMU (now fourth and seventh respectively) and putting up big numbers against both, Notre Dame traveled to North Carolina to face the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill and Duke during fall break. The Irish returned 1-1, facing a reverse sweep from the Tar Heels and completely sweeping the Blue Devils in three sets.
Overall on the weekend, sophomore outside hitter Morgan Gaerte had 36 kills and 12 digs, junior outside hitter Sydney Helmers was close behind with 33 kills and 12 digs plus four aces, freshman outside hitter Mae Kordas put up 14 kills, freshman outside hitter Chichi Nnaji had eight kills, sophomore middle Grace Langer had seven kills and sophomore middle Anna Bjork had six kills. Freshman setter Maya Baker had 51 assists and 15 digs while senior setter Harmony Sample only played in the match against North Carolina but received 27 assists. Freshman libero Maya Evens led with 30 digs on the weekend.
North Carolina
At the time of play, the Tar Heels were ranked 21st in the American Volleyball Coaches Association poll and have had a very successful season, now sitting at 16-3 overall and 9-1 in Atlantic Coast Conference play. Their only losses come from a five-set thriller against South Carolina, another five-set game against Kansas State and a very recent four-set loss to No. 8 Louisville. North Carolina has put up big numbers on the year so far, ranking fourth in ACC for hitting percentage with 0.262, sixth in assists with 886, fifth in kills with 969 and second in blocks with 211.
The Tar Heels are led in kills by junior outside Safi Hampton who hit many career records during her sophomore year and is looking to break them this year. Right now, she has 265 kills for the season and a hitting percentage of 0.279, with 17 kills coming from the match against the Irish where she hit a 0.273. Redshirt junior Chelsea Thorpe has 191 kills on the year and hits a 0.282, while averaging a little over three points per set. She had 11 kills and scored 12 points against Notre Dame this weekend. Junior setter Zoe Behrendt leads with 432 assists, 25 coming from the match against the Irish, while senior libero Maddy May leads with 286 digs, 10 of which were from the match against Notre Dame.
After struggling early on in set one, the Irish fought their way back to take a 13-10 lead on a six-point scoring run, which completely shifted the momentum of the match and helped them close out with a 11-5 scoring run, ending the match on a Helmers ace and a score of 25-19. The second set started quickly for Notre Dame as North Carolina kept making unforced errors, leading to an early 8-2 lead. The Irish played textbook volleyball, limited their mistakes and stole the second set from the Tar Heels 25-15.
The next two sets were very quick and consisted of many scoring runs made by North Carolina that took the Irish by surprise, and despite big kills and strong defensive efforts, were too much to handle. Notre Dame fell in the third set 25-17 and the fourth 25-20. With high energy, the Irish came out to a quick 5-2 start in the fifth set and pushed it to 8-4 with kills from Kordas, Gaerte and Bjork; however, the Tar Heels had a shifted mindset after their timeout and came back hungry to win the match. The match was sealed. North Carolina had broken in their new home court with good vibrations from a 3-2 reverse sweep.
Duke
At the time of play, the Blue Devils were 5-15 on the year with big losses to Louisville, Boston College, Syracuse, Georgia Tech and North Carolina; however, they have conference wins against Clemson and NC State. Duke is currently ranked lower in the ACC in hitting percentage with a 0.180, 12th in assists with 875, 12th in kills with 949 and 18th in blacks with 150.
The Blue Devils are led in kills by sophomore outside hitter Taylor Williams, who was named 2024 All-ACC Freshman Team and already has 222 kills on the season, but was held down to only nine against the Irish. Freshman outside hitter Ashby Zubchevich is not far behind Williams with 221 kills, eight of which came from her match against Notre Dame. The offense is led by top freshman recruit Charlotte Glass who has 350 assists on the year, but was limited to 19 on Sunday. The defense is led by sophomore libero Mailinh Godschall who has 332 digs on the year, but was only able to get seven this past weekend.
In the first set, a 4-0 run capped by a Helmers kill gave the Irish an early 10-6 lead, one they took advantage of, allowing them to never look back. Notre Dame went on a 9-0 scoring run highlighted by blocks from Langer and Kordas that pushed the lead to 19-7 before closing out the set 25-13. Set two was very similar as back-to-back aces extended a close game to 11-8, and a 4-0 scoring run, once again, secured the Irish lead to push the momentum in their direction for the rest of the set, leading to a 25-18 win. Duke attempted to fight back in the third set, going up seven points early; however, Notre Dame rallied tough to tie it 22-22. Consecutive and crucial kills from Gaerte and Langer pushed the match to 25-22, sealing the Irish sweep.
Notre Dame is back at Purcell Pavilion this week, hosting Louisville on Wednesday at 7 p.m. before traveling to play the Cardinals on their home court on Nov. 1.
