Nov. 6, 2015
By Russell Dorn
NOTRE DAME, Ind. – Behind 14 kills, 10 digs and four blocks from junior all-Atlantic Coast Conference talent Lindsey Owens, the Virginia Tech Hokies took down the University of Notre Dame volleyball team 3-0 (27-25, 25-20, 25-20) Friday night at Purcell Pavilion in front of 1,128 fans.
The Irish looked strong in set one and appeared poised to take the early lead. They took a 13-12 lead after running off four of the previous five points to force a Hokie timeout. Later in the set up 17-14 sophomore Sydney Kuhn served up an ace to put Notre Dame up four at 18-14. The Irish held a five-point lead at 21-16 and had a four-point advantage at 22-18 before settling into a three-point lead at 23-20. Virginia Tech wouldn’t give up though, as the Hokies rallied back to tie the set at 23 before taking a 24-23 lead on a double block.
Notre Dame held off a pair of set points, but back-to-back kills by Owens gave Virginia Tech the come-from-behind 1-0 lead.
Set two saw the Hokies take an 18-18 tie and run off seven of the final nine points to go up 2-0. Five of the seven points came by way of the kill, with Owens totaling the final two for the second set in a row.
Virginia Tech closed out the match by pulling away midway through set three. The Irish trimmed the lead to one at 15-14 on a double block by sophomore Sam Fry and junior Katie Higgins. However, the Hokies came back to score three consecutive points and go up 18-14. Notre Dame trimmed the margin to one at 20-19, but VT powered home three more kills over the final six points to finish off the sweep.
Notre Dame hit just .084 for the match compared to .202 for the Hokies. Virginia Tech held the lead in kills (43-33), assists (41-32), digs (70-52) and blocks (13-9). The Irish had three service aces as opposed to none for VT, but each team had 11 service errors.
For Notre Dame, Kuhn had 13 kills, three digs, two blocks, two assists and a service ace. Freshman libero Ryann DeJarld (15D, 1SA) posted 15+ digs for the 13th time in 2015, while sophomore defensive specialist Natalie Johnson had 13 digs.
In addition to Owens solid night, Amanda McKinzie had 11 kills and 13 digs, Katie Krueger posted eight kills (.462 A%) and libero Kenedy McGrath had an impressive 29 digs.
Notre Dame (6-19, 1-12 ACC) closes out the weekend at 1 p.m. (ET) Sunday against Pitt (19-6, 9-4 ACC). Fans can follow the match through WatchND’s free online video stream or live stats. Links for both are on UND.com.
Sunday is Military Appreciation Day. The first 300 fans in attendance will receive camo bandanas. Fans with a military I.D. will get in free and can bring a guest for free by checking out vettix.org.
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Russell Dorn, athletics communications assistant director at the University of Notre Dame, has been part of the Fighting Irish athletics communications team since 2011 and coordinates all media efforts for the Notre Dame volleyball, rowing and baseball programs. A native of Greenwood, South Carolina, Dorn graduated from Furman University in 2008 with a bachelor’s degree in history before earning his master’s degree in sports communications from Georgia State University in 2011.