Cardinals Fall to Notre Dame in Five Sets

Friday, November 16

South Bend, Ind.

7:00 p.m.

University of Louisville

20-8, 13-4ACC

Notre Dame

16-11, 10-7ACC

LOUISVILLE

Notre Dame

November 16, 2018 | Women's Volleyball

Box Score VB Louisville v ND final

Melanie McHenry leads with 20 kills.

By: Nancy Worley

Junior outside hitter Melanie McHenry's 20 kills, 15 digs and two blocks were not enough as the University of Louisville fell 3-2 to rival Notre Dame in ACC volleyball action Friday night in South Bend.

The Cardinals move to 20-8, and 13-4 in the ACC with the 27-25, 22-25, 19-25, 25-16, 15-11 loss. UofL hit .169 with 13 blocks and four aces. Amanda Green and Jasmine Bennett each had 11 kills with Claire Chaussee adding 12. Piper Roe led all blockers with 10. On defense, Molly Sauer had 23 digs for the Cards. Notre Dame moves to 16-11 and 10-7 in the ACC. The Irish were paced by Sydney Bent's 19 kills and seven blocks.

In the first set, the Irish had a 5-0 run to take an 11-6 lead but the Cardinals bounced back to tie at 13 on a block by Piper Roe and Wilma Rivera. The teams traded points until the Irish got set point at 24-22. The Cardinals tied, benefitting from a pair of Irish errors. Louisville was blocked but then an ND service error saved set point again to tie at 25. A kill by Charley Niego before a block by Meg Morningstar and Sydney Bent gave Notre Dame the 27-25 win. UofL hit .205 with an ace and a block. ND hit .262 with five blocks but no aces.

In the second set, the Cardinals popped out to a 4-1 lead before the Irish stepped up their block to tie at 11. UofL used a 4-0 run to go up 15-11 at the media timeout. UofL scored three in a row to go up 19-15 but had to call timeout as two straight hitting errors put the Irish within two at 19-17. Up 22-18, the Cardinals hit a rough rotation that saw the Irish score three straight, two on blocks to come within one at 22-21. UofL scored the final three points on Irish errors for the 25-22 win.

UofL carried momentum over into the third set, going up 11-8 on a kill by Claire Chaussee. The Irish pushed back with a 4-0 run to take the lead at 12-11. After a Cardinal timeout, UofL went on a 7-3 run to take an 18-16 lead and force Notre Dame to burn its final timeout. UofL got to set point at 24-19 on a kill by Melanie McHenry and then a Molly Sauer ace sealed Notre Dame's fate for the 25-19 win.

The Cardinals let the Irish power out to a 14-6 lead in the fourth set and could never regain traction. Down 21-12, UofL made a little run scoring three straight to get within six at 21-15 but the Irish put an end to the rally with the 25-16 win to force a fifth set.

In the fifth set, Notre Dame went ahead 6-3 early on a kill by Meg Morningstar. UofL called timeout but fell behind 10-3. Louisville came back to 14-10 but it was too late as the Irish took the set and match 15-11 on a kill by Sydney Bent.

UofL plays one more regular season match against Georgia Tech on Friday, Nov. 23 at 5 p.m. in Cardinal Arena.