Oct. 15, 2010
NOTRE DAME, Ind. – Senior middle blocker Kellie Sciacca recorded her 1,000th career kill Friday evening at Purcell Pavilion as Notre Dame pulled out a 3-1 (18-25, 25-23, 25-20, 25-18) BIG EAST Conference volleyball win over DePaul. Sciacca, who finished the night with eight kills and seven blocks, delivered kill No. 1,000 in the second set to become the 19th player in Irish history to reach the milestone. She later ended the frame with one of her two solo blocks on set point.
Notre Dame (12-7 overall, 5-2 BIG EAST) used Sciacca’s defense at the net and freshman Andrea McHugh’s offense on the pipes, as the outside hitter went for a career-high 23 kills on 50 swings (.340). McHugh had seven kills in both the second and third sets.
DePaul (1-19, 0-7) raised a few eyebrows by capturing the opening frame for its first victorious set over the Irish in last eight matches of the series. Notre Dame recovered to win the next three for its eighth straight win over the Blue Demons.
The Blue Demons hit .273 in the first set, its highest clip of the night. The visitors finished with a .216 clip, compared to Notre Dame’s .255. Freshman Maggie Brindock did the bulk of the setting, dishing out 35 assists with two kills and seven digs.
Junior Hilary Eppink had 11 kills and was one of eight Irish players with converted attacks.
Sciacca led the Irish with two aces, as Notre Dame did not commit a service error all evening.
DePaul’s Chelsea Kirkpatrick led her team with 15 kills and Samantha Geiger had a match-high 41 assists. Kyndell Highland dropped three of her four aces in the first set.
Notre Dame came out of the gate with a bad set and service error to fall behind quickly by a pair. Leading 12-9, Notre Dame gave up nine straight scores including Highland’s three aces and never recovered.
The Irish led the second set, 4-2, but a bad set tied it at 4-4. DePaul crept out to a four-point lead (12-8) and doubled-up the Irish, 16-8. Junior Angela Puente held court to stir the Irish attack with an ace and served the home team back into the contest. Freshman Sam Brown had a pair of late kills and Notre Dame took advantage of three straight Blue Demon attack errors to close the set.
Notre Dame never trailed in the third or fourth sets.
The Irish are slated to play a non-conference match at Western Michigan at 7:00 p.m. on Tuesday (Oct. 19). Live stats will be available at UND.com
–ND–