April 21, 2016

By Russell Dorn

NOTRE DAME, Ind. – After a highly successful spring season under the watchful eye of two-time national championship winning head coach Jim McLaughlin, the University of Notre Dame volleyball team closes out the campaign with a 6 p.m. (ET) Friday match against Valparaiso in the North Dome of the Joyce Center on the Notre Dame campus.

Fans are welcome to come out and watch the new-look Irish team that returns 13 student-athletes from 2015 and brought in impact transfer setter Caroline Holt from Loyola Chicago. Admission is free to the scheduled five-set match.

Notre Dame is undefeated so far this season with victories over DePaul and Butler.

Against DePaul, rising junior Sydney Kuhn posted a team-high 18 kills and attacked at a .296 clip, while rising junior Natalie Johnson had an impressive six service aces. Rising junior Sam Fry added eight kills and three service aces and rising senior Katie Higgins posted six kills while hitting .417 for the match. When Holt set the ball, the Irish pounded home 47 kills and attacked at a .292 %. Rising sophomore Ryann DeJarld turned in an incredibly steady match passing in the back row.

In the win over the Bulldogs, Notre Dame put together a steady offense that featured five players with seven or more kills. Rising sophomore Meg Morningstar had the best attack percentage (.364), finishing with seven kills. DeJarld continued her solid work in the back row and also added two service aces.

In the coming weeks be on the lookout for a spring recap, information on two new additions to the 2016 roster and the 2016 schedule, which features the return of two home tournaments in addition to 10 home Atlantic Coast Conference contests.

For more information on the Irish, follow the team on Facebook (/NDVolleyball), Twitter (@NDVolleyball), Instagram (NDVBall) and Snapchat (NDVolleyball). Irish camp information can be found at ndvbcamps.com or by emailing ndvbcamps@gmail.com.

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.

–ND–