Purdue Fort Wayne
Notre Dame
Mastodons Drop Season Opener to Irish
8/29/2008 12:00:00 AM | Women's Volleyball
Aug. 29, 2008
Notre Dame, IN - The IPFW Mastodons dropped their first match of the 2008 season to the Notre Dame Fighting Irish by scores of 25-22, 25-23 and 25-21. Mayara Schlindwein (11), Jessica Miller (10), and Rebekah Roehm (10) each had double figure kills in the loss.
Jessica Dominiak had a double-double from her setter position, dishing out 32 assists while picking up a team-high 11 digs. This was her fourth consecutive assist/dig double-double dating back to last season.
IPFW and Notre Dame battled throughout the first set, as the two teams were tied at 12 halfway through the opening section. With the `Dons trailing by two at 16-14, Notre Dame opened a 6-2 run, pushing ahead to 22-16. IPFW rallied back with a 5-1 streak, aided by a trio of Roehm kills. The deficit was too much; however, as Notre Dame out-scored IPFW 2-1 through the rest of the set to claim a 25-22 victory.
The second began with a similar start to the first, with the teams tied at six before the Irish scored five of the next six points to open an 11-7 lead. The IPFW deficit grew to as many as five at 15-10,before the `Dons rallied back, clawing their way to a 23-23 tie before the host scored the final two points to clinch the second set victory at 25-23.
The third set started to look like a Notre Dame runaway, as the Irish jumped out to leads of 7-2 and 9-3 before IPFW climbed back to within one at 15-14 after a Schlindwein kill. The largest lead the Irish would gain over the remainder of the set would be three, at 19-16 before the `Dons scored four of the next five points to tie the set at 20. A point by both teams sent the score to 21-21, before Notre Dame scored the final four points to give the hosts a third-set win at 25-21.
IPFW hit a strong .286 as a team, totaling 45 kills against just 13 errors on 112 attempts. Pacing the team in the statistic was Roehm who had 10 kills and no errors on 26 tries, an attack percentage of .385. Miller had the team's only service ace, while she and Jamie Schwartz each had nine digs for second highest on the team.
Notre Dame was led by Serenity Phillips, who had 13 kills, while Kristin Dealy had a dozen. Three Irish, Phillips, Dealy and Frenchy Silva had double figure kills, with Tara Enzweiler totaling a game-high three blocks.
The `Dons take back to the court on Saturday, August 30, where they will face off against the Valparaiso Crusaders, 3-0 victors over Nevada in the earlier match of the tournament.
~Dons~
