Oct. 5, 2002
The University of Notre Dame volleyball team moved to 3-0 in the BIG EAST Conference with a three game victory (30-16, 30-24, 30-19) over Rutgers in Piscataway, NJ, on Saturday. The Irish are now 12-3 on the season and 3-0 in league competition, while the Scarlet Knights drop to 11-5, 0-1.
The Notre Dame offense ran smooth as silk Saturday afternoon, as setter Kristen Kinder led the team to a .418 hitting percentage. Kinder posted 35 assists, eight digs and three blocks in the match. She distributed the ball to Emily Loomis (13 kills, four digs, two blocks) on the outside and Lauren Kelbley (11 kills, five blocks) in the middle.
Loomis and Kelbley enjoyed stellar hitting matches. Of the 20 swings Loomis took in the match, she scored her 13 kills with just one error for a .600 hitting mark. Kelbley was equally accurate, not committing an error the whole contest and getting her 11 kills on 19 swings (.579 hitting).
Jessica Kinder (six kills), Lauren Brewster (six kills) and Katie Neff (seven kills) rounded out the offensive output for the Irish.
Shayla Bush led Rutgers with 16 kills on .119 hitting.
Notre Dame has now won 37-straight BIG EAST regular-season matches and 30-straight overall matches against conference opponents.
The road trip continues for volleyball tomorrow at Seton Hall (12 noon).