Hoosiers Struggle Against Surging Irish

Friday, September 20

South Bend, Ind.

6:30 PM

Indiana University

6-3,0-0Big Ten

Notre Dame

7-1,0-0ACC

Indiana

Notre Dame

9/20/2024 8:50:00 PM | Women's Volleyball

Box Score Box Score (PDF)

SOUTH BEND, Ind. – The Indiana Volleyball team (6-3) dropped the front-end of its home-and-home weekend series with Notre Dame (7-1) in three sets (15-25, 20-25, 28-30) on Friday (Sept. 20) night inside Purcell Pavilion at the Joyce Center. After the Fighting Irish controlled the first set, the Hoosiers challenged over the final two sets and fought off eight match points in the third set.

The Hoosiers slowly worked their way into the match after being dominated in game one. Junior outside hitter Candela Alonso-Corcelles was the lone bright spot in a night to forget offensively. She had 17 kills with just five errors on 40 swings, working a hitting percentage of .300. No other IU player had more than six kills.

After not recording a block in the first set, Indiana produced three in the second set and seven in the third set to end the night with its third double-digit block match in the last four contests. IU held a 10.0-9.5 edge at the net. Junior Madi Sell paced the block with six rejections, while freshman Ella Boersema and junior Avry Tatum each had four blocks.

In addition to her six blocks, Sell provided six kills on a .417 clip offensively. Tatum had five but IU managed just 33 kills as a team on the evening. Senior setter Camryn Haworth had 28 assists, six digs, two kills and an ace.

IU managed itself at the service line with a season-low eight service errors. It had just four aces as Notre Dame controlled the ball well to run its offense. The Fighting Irish had nine errors from the end line but the led the match with seven aces. Notre Dame freshman outside hitter Morgan Gaerte had a team-best 12 kills.

The two teams will meet again on Sunday, September 22, inside Wilkinson Hall at 1:00 p.m. The match will finish off the non-conference slate for both programs. IU will hope to extend its home winning streak to five games to start the 2024 season.

Set Breakdown
Set 1: Notre Dame 25, Indiana 15

Notre Dame came ready to play on Friday night in its home gym, jumping on IU from the opening serve. The Fighting Irish hit .565 (13-0-23), committing zero errors in a dominant first set over IU. Candela Alonso-Corcelles had five kills to lead the Hoosiers but nobody else had more than two. IU had zero blocks and just one ace from Alonso-Corcelles.

• After exchanging points in the early going, Notre Dame opened up the set on a 5-0 run. Sydney Palazzolo kept IU out-of-system and ran their offense to take a 12-7 advantage.

• IU's last lead in the game was at 5-4 before Notre Dame closed on a 21-10 run to end the set. Avry Tatum had consecutive attacking errors before the media timeout. The Fighting Irish served the ball well to the tune of four aces in the frame.

Set 2: Notre Dame 25, Indiana 20

IU was much better offensively in the second set but couldn't limit scoring runs from the hosts. Alonso-Corcelles had six kills while Sell added three kills and three blocks. The Hoosiers hit .226 (12-5-31) in game two but were out-hit by the Fighting Irish by over 100 points (.333-.226).

• After an early timeout from head coach Steve Aird, IU responded nicely to take a lead at 12-11 following a kill from Sell. The 4-0 run came with Delaynie Maple at the service line on her jump serve.

• Notre Dame ended the set on a 14-8 run to take the 2-0 advantage in the match. The Hoosiers had the set within two on multiple occasions but couldn't trim the gap further. An ace from Haworth and a kill from Sell trimmed the gap to four but Notre Dame saw out the set on the arm of freshman Morgan Gaerte.

Set 3: Notre Dame 30, Indiana 28

IU looked down for the count but fought back to pressure Notre Dame in game three. The Hoosiers fended off eight match points and even had a set point but couldn't close down the stretch. A double block from Alonso-Corcelles and Ella Boersema handed IU a set point at 26-25 but Notre Dame wound up winning the match. The Fighting Irish committed 10 attacking errors, seven coming on IU blocks. The Hoosiers hit just .158 in the final set.

• Notre Dame's lead ballooned to seven after a service ace on Emma Segal. Following a substitution that brought Mady Saris back into the match, IU immediately went on a run to close the gap to two behind the strong serve of the Canadian.

• Tatum had her hands in back-to-back blocks to fend off the first two set points. A bad set from Notre Dame took the match to 24-all. IU got just its second lead of the frame at 26-25 behind a double block from Boersema and Alonso-Corcelles.

• Notre Dame closed with the final two points of the set. Phyona Schrader had a kill before the Fighting Irish combined on a triple block to deny Saris on the eighth match point. The hosts closed off the match in a sweep.

Top Hoosier Performers
#3 Alonso-Corcelles, Candela
17 kills, 3 digs, 2 blocks, 1 ace, .300 hitting percentage

#32 Gary, Ramsey
14 digs, 3 assists

#1 Sell, Madi
6 kills, 6 blocks

Notes to Know
• IU was swept for just the second time this season. It hit under .200 for the second time this season, both of those matches resulting in three-set sweeps at the hands of No. 1 Texas and Notre Dame respectively.

• Madi Sell had a hand in six blocks for the Hoosiers, part of a 10-block team effort on the evening. It was the most blocks in a three-set match since recording 13 in a sweep of Rutgers on Nov. 10, 2023.