Irish Volleyball splits matches
By MATT OLIVA
The Notre Dame volleyball team split two matches this weekend in the Big Orange Bash in Clemson, S.C., for a second-place tournament finish.
The Irish (4-2) knocked off Kentucky on Saturday before dropping Sunday's match to 18th-ranked Clemson.
"Our fundamentals fell apart," junior Denise Boylan said. "Our passing was not there and we made a lot of unforced errors. We dug ourselves a hole and then could not score enough points to comeback."
Saturday, the Irish defeated Kentucky in three games, 15-9, 15-9 and 15-9. Sophomore Kristy Kreher led the Irish with 16 kills in the match. Offensively, senior Mary Leffers and juniors Jo Jameyson and Christi Girton all added nine kills, while Boylan added a match-high 50 assists.
On the defensive side, the Irish limited Kentucky to a .153 hitting percentage and out-blocked the Wildcats 14-7. Leffers matched her career-high in a three-game match with nine blocks.
But the Irish were not as fortunate Sunday, dropping the first three games to Clemson, 15-13, 15-3 and 15-6.
The victory clinched first place in the Big Orange Bash for the Tigers.
The Irish out-hit the Tigers in the first game .282 to .268, but were unable to pull out the win in the end.
"We had a good scouting report for Clemson and played them really well in game one," Boylan said.
The momentum from game one carried over for the Tigers, as they were able to win the next two games rather easily.
"We did not play very well against either team," said Boylan. "We were behind all weekend and our passing was off. Kristy Kreher played extremely well and that helped us get the win against Kentucky."
Boylan and Kreher both were named to the All-Tournament team, a first for Kreher. Boylan was named to last weekend's all-tournament team.
The Irish play next at 7 p.m., Saturday, at home against Miami (Ohio).
All Sports Stories for Tuesday, September 14, 1999
