Sept. 19, 2010
NOTRE DAME, Ind. – Five players for No. 20 Dayton recorded at least six kills as the visiting Flyers defeated Notre Dame Sunday afternoon at Purcell Pavilion in a non-conference volleyball contest. With the 3-0 (25-12, 25-21, 25-20) defeat on the final day of the Notre Dame Invitational, the Irish fell to 7-5 overall while Dayton’s record moved to 9-3.
The Irish have now dropped three straight affairs in addition to a pair of matches this season at the hands of top 20 teams (No. 18 Arizona beat Notre Dame on Aug. 29).
Notre Dame gets one week of rest and returns to the court to christen the BIG EAST Conference portion of the schedule by hosting West Virginia (Sept. 24) and Pittsburgh (Sept. 26).
Junior Kristen Dealy was named to the all-tournament team and finished the day with eight kills and nine digs. For the three-match invite Dealy averaged 3.64 kills/set and 4.36 digs/set. Junior Frenchy Silva led the Irish with 14 digs against the Flyers and totaled 54 in 11 frames (4.91/set) on the weekend.
Freshman Andrea McHugh had eight kills, two aces and four digs against Dayton, while senior Kellie Sciacca and sophomore Hilary Eppink each added seven kills.
The Irish struggled to get past a strong Dayton blocking unit that totaled nine rejections, including five by tournament MVP Lindsay Fletemier. Fletemier had seven kills and the visitors were paced by Becky Novacek’s nine. Dayton held Notre Dame to a .104 hitting pct. while swinging at a .260 rate as a team.
Dealy had four kills and four digs in the first set, which saw Dayton’s Allyson Morey registering four straight aces during an early 5-0 run. Morey would also later add a fifth ace in the match. Dayton posted an 8-0 run at the 13-7 mark to put the set out of Notre Dame’s reach.
Rachel Krabacher had six kills for Dayton in the second, as McHugh accomplished the same feat for Notre Dame on 14 swings with a pair of errors. Silva scooped eight of Dayton’s 49 attempts in the frame, which saw four lead changes and 12 ties. The final tangled count came at 18-18 on a McHugh strike, and Dayton scored seven of the next 10 to take a 2-0 lead into intermission.
Notre Dame stayed within striking distance with a McHugh ace to tie the third at 12-12. The Flyers scored three straight after that point and went on to win the frame on a .357 hitting clip, their highest of the match.
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Notre Dame Invitational All-Tournament TeamMVP - Lindsay Fletemier (Dayton)Paige Varga (Dayton)Becky Novacek (Dayton)Greta Gibboney (Delaware)Kim Stewart (Delaware)Dana Knudsen (Santa Clara)Kristen Dealy (Notre Dame)
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