SOUTH BEND, Ind. – The Notre Dame Fighting Irish advanced to 10-5 on the season and 4-3 in conference play after taking down the Virginia Cavaliers (8-9, 1-6 ACC) in Purcell Pavilion on Friday, Oct. 13. The Irish won their Dig Pink match in four sets (25-22, 23-25, 25-10, 25-10) and recorded a season-high attendance with 2,070 fans in the arena.
The Irish were led by Lucy Trump with a season-high 18 kills and 14 digs, hitting at a clip of .361. She was followed by Ava Lange with 13 kills and a .375 hitting percentage, as well as Sydney Palazzolo with 11 kills and a .321 hitting percentage. Charity McDowell led the Irish with five blocks and Nicole Drewnick dished out 38 assists for the Irish.
Set One
It was back and forth action in set one as there were 10 ties and five lead changes between the Irish and Cavaliers. Trailing 18-17 in the first, the Irish would go on a 5-0 run, which included three straight kills from Lange to take the lead 22-18. Virginia brought it within two at 22-20 and 24-22, but a kill from Trump would solidify the set one win at 25-22 for the Irish.
Set Two
It was a similar start in set two, with both teams struggling to pull away from the other. Tied at 10-10, UVA would go on a 4-0 to take the lead 14-10. The Irish brought it within three at 20-17, and another Trump kill sparked a 4-0 run for Notre Dame to claim a 21-20 advantage. The Cavaliers however, responded with a run of their own as they scored three straight to regain the lead at 23-21. A UVA service error and Lange kill made it 23-all, but Virginia would close it out with back-to-back kills to take set two 25-23.
Set Three
The Irish came out swinging in the third as they claimed a 9-2 advantage before the Cavaliers called their first timeout. Still maintaining the seven point lead, the Irish were up 15-8 over Virginia. Notre Dame would go on to score 10 of the final 12 points of the set as they only allowed two more kills from UVA before taking set three 25-10.
Set Four
The Irish posted another early lead at 9-5, forcing a UVA timeout. Notre Dame continued their run out of the timeout as they tacked on another three points, which included two aces from Trump, as Virginia called another timeout after trailing 12-5. Trump would record back-to-back aces out of the timeout to make it a nine point lead. Maintaining the nine point advantage at 19-10, the Irish closed it out with six straight points to win set four 25-10. Trump recorded five service aces…