Notre Dame volleyball is coming off a tough loss against Syracuse and a sweep against Boston College this past weekend and looks to rebound as they travel to California to play the Stanford Cardinal on Friday night at 10 p.m. and California Golden Bears on Sunday afternoon at 4 p.m. Notre Dame’s sweep of the Eagles displays their control against teams in the bottom of the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC). However, against higher-ranked opponents, the Irish will need to focus on diversifying their offense and maintaining intensity throughout the match: fighting for every point not just early momentum.
Sophomore outside hitter Morgan Gaerte stayed strong throughout the weekend with 35 kills, but other players such as sophomore middle hitter Grace Langer and junior outside hitter Sydney Helmers made a huge impact on the box scores, reaching 11 kills and 16 respectively. Although Notre Dame does have strong defensive players such as freshman libero Maya Evens, the Irish need to become more consistent in what balls they pick up in order to turn their competitive losses into wins, especially as ACC competition gets tougher in the coming month.
The Stanford Cardinal will be a tough team for Notre Dame to crack on the offensive, defensive and mental sides. The Cardinal were picked third in the 2025 Preseason ACC coaches poll, coming off a very successful season last year going 28-5 and finishing at the NCAA Regional Final. Stanford currently is 11-2 on the season, with their only two losses coming from Nebraska and Texas, the respective first and second nationally ranked teams.
The Cardinal’s offense and much of their success is reliant on senior outside hitter Elia Rubin. Rubin was named to the 2025 Preseason All-ACC Team, American Volleyball Coaches Association (AVCA) All-America First Team (2024), All-Pac-12 Freshman Team (2023), All-ACC First Team (2024) and even more accolades during her time at The Farm. Aside from Rubin, the Stanford offense boasts players such as freshman middle hitter Erika Sayer and sophomore middle blocker Lizzy Andrew, who have 115 and 113 kills on the season, which is considerable from the middle position. For perspective, all three of Notre Dame’s middle hitters combined have 88 kills total. Defensively, Stanford is led by freshman libero Spencer Etzler who has 169 digs and Sayer with 50 blocks. The talent pipeline for the Cardinal is as strong as ever evidenced by players such as Morgan Hentz and Kathryn Plummer who hade mave it to Olympic and professional teams, suggesting the standard of Stanford pushes elite players to thrive on the court even beyond college. Last year, when these two faced off in South Bend, Notre Dame fell to Stanford 3-1.
The California Golden Bears will be a competitive team against the Irish as they are currently 5-7, but have faced a challenging schedule against tough competition this season. The Golden Bears are led offensively by senior outside hitter Peyton DeJardin with 117 kills and senior middle hitter Mikayla Hayden with 115 kills and 57 blocks. California’s defense boasts strengths with players such as junior libero Sophia Johnson, who has 171 digs and is always on her toes, ready for any ball that penetrates the strong Golden Bears’ block. Last year when these two faced off in South Bend, Notre Dame took down California 3-1.
After returning from California, conference play will continue for the Irish at home as they face University of Virginia Oct. 10 and Virginia Tech Oct. 12.
