Sept. 28, 2001
The 24th-ranked University of Notre Dame volleyball team (6-3, 2-0 in the BIG EAST) continued its hot hitting and posted a three-game victory (30-25, 30-16, 30-27) over Virginia Tech (3-8, 0-3) at the Joyce Center Friday evening. It was the first meeting between the Irish and the Hokies, as Virginia Tech is competing in BIG EAST volleyball for the first time this season.
Notre Dame entered the match ranked second in the conference in hitting (.253) and would improve that mark by posting a team .363 hitting percentage in the match. Senior MB Malinda Goralski (Missouri City, Texas) continued to excel at the net, contributing 13 kills on 20 attempts (.600 hitting) and blocking seven Hokie attacks. Fellow senior Kristy Kreher (Birmingham, Mich.) also posted her second double-digit kill match in BIG EAST play this season by slamming down a team-high 14 kills.
Virgina Tech looked poised to take the Irish to the limit in game one, keeping pace with the home team throughout the first contest. With the score tied at eight, the Hokies jumped ahead by three points behind two kills and an ace.
The Irish rallied back to knot the score at 12 with kills from Emily Loomis (Fort Wayne, Ind.) and Kreher. Both teams battled back and forth until Notre Dame pulled away behind two kills each from Kreher and Goralski, who also combined on a block to win the game clinching-point.
The momentum from Notre Dame’s game-one victory kept the Hokies from getting anything started in the second game of the match. The Irish built a lead of 16-12 and followed up by posting 13 consecutive points to put the game away. The point streak included four consecutive Notre Dame kills (two by Marcie Bomhack and one each from Goralski and Kreher), two consecutive blocks by Marcie Bomhack (Waukesha, Wis.) and Kim Fletcher (St. Louis, Mo.), and two consecutive aces by Janie Alderete (Santa Clara, Calif.). Alderete would end up tying a career-best in the match with four aces.
The Hokies did not give up in game three, however, and fought the Irish all the way through game point. Notre Dame would build an 18-12 lead, but Virginia Tech crawled back to cut the lead to three, 28-25. After an Irish timeout, a perfect pass from Irish setter Kristen Kinder (Fresno, Calif.) set up Kreher for a kill to get the team to match point. Fletcher then put away another Kinder set moments later to end the match and push Notre Dame’s BIG EAST regular-season consecutive match victory streak to 35.
Notre Dame will be back in action against BIG EAST Conference opponent Georgetown on Sunday, Sept. 30, at 2 p.m.