VOLLEYBALL: Irish netters ground Rockets
By NOAH AMSTADTER
Sports Editor
It wasn't a test they expected, but the Irish volleyball team passed with flying colors.
Notre Dame's five-game victory (29-31, 30-25, 30-17, 27-30, 15-11) at Toledo Tuesday night marked the first time an Irish match has gone to five games since the NCAA switched to a rally-scoring system this season. The unranked Rockets (7-4) gave the No. 22 Irish more than the visitors bargained for.
"We definitely got a good challenge," said Notre Dame head coach Debbie Brown. "Toledo played very well. They certainly played better than their averages in all of their areas. They were pretty fired up."
Notre Dame put themselves in a hole early in game four. The Rockets shot aces and kills left and right to build an early 21-12 lead.
"We got aced a few times in that game so we just dig ourselves a hole early in the game and just had a hard time getting the points on our serve to catch back up," Brown said.
The Irish committed 19 service errors on the night. Other than senior Malinda Goralski and junior Keara Coughlin, every Irish player to take the court put up at least one errant serve.
Notre Dame cut the Toledo lead to three, but couldn't pull any closer and lost 30-27 to force a decisive game five.
With the new rally-scoring system, points continue to be scored each time the ball hits the floor, but in game five the winner only needs to score 15 points. With so few points, the team that starts off quick has the advantage. The Irish did exactly that.
The Irish blocked three of the Rockets' first four attack attempts, with Goralski assisting on all three plays. As the lineup shifted, sophomore Kim Fletcher moved into Goralski's middle blocker position. She continued where Goralski left off, scoring two kills off the slide and combining with Bomhack on a block to put the Irish up 11-4.
Toledo scored four consecutive points to cut the gap to 11-8, but would never come closer. Freshman Emily Loomis scored two of Notre Dame's final four points, including the game-winner.
"I think that it helps to get our first five-game match out of the way and come out with a win," said senior Kristy Kreher, who led the Irish in kills with a match-high 19. "We know next time that could happen that we're confident winning five-game matches."
Despite losing two games, the Irish performed well in many aspects. Notre Dame hit .329 for the night, including a .375 mark in game two and a .412 attack rate in the deciding fifth game. The Irish also finished with 16 blocks — a statistic Brown saw as essential to the win.
"I think as a team, actually we blocked pretty well," Brown said. "One thing we talked about was committing with their middles and slowing down their middles a little bit."
While the Irish focused on the Rockets' middle hitters, Toledo outside hitter Becky Radomski racked up a season-high 18 kills in the five games. Lindsey Kretzmann added 14 kills on a .333 hitting percentage.
"Becky really displayed the type of player she is tonight," Toledo coach Kent Miller said in a release. "She's now starting to play way she was before having knee surgery last year."
Notre Dame put itself in a hole early, letting Toledo score the first three points of game one. The Irish cut the Rocket tied it up 16-16 midway through the match on a Kristen Kinder kill before Toledo built another three-point lead.
The Irish fought back to tie the game at 25. Then Kreher scored a kill after a time out to give Notre Dame its first lead of the night.
But Toledo came back again, scoring off of two Irish attack errors to reach game point with a 29-28 lead. Two kills later, Toledo won the game, putting the Irish down 0-1 for the second consecutive match after Georgetown took game one on Sunday.
"We knew that we had to go out and play our side of the net," Goralski said. "I don't know that we anticipated that they would be as strong as they were. They played at the top of their game and really tested us."
The Irish came out stronger in game two, building an early 8-4 lead to force the home team into a timeout. Notre Dame maintained four-point lead until a Toledo streak cut the lead to 22-21. But behind a Goralski kill, two aces from Loomis and kills from Kreher and Marcie Bomhack Notre Dame tied the match at 1-1.
In game three, Notre Dame built its 2-1 match lead with its strongest effort of the night, leading by as many as 13 points. Goralski recorded five kills and three blocks in the match, while Fletcher added two blocks and a kill.
Despite the loss, Miller was impressed with his team's performance against a ranked team.
"The players are beginning to believe they are a good team and they should believe that," the Rockets coach said. "We saw that tonight with how we came back against a very good Notre Dame team."
All Sports Stories for Wednesday, October 3, 2001
