Women’s Volleyball Holds Off Notre Dame To Win In Five Games – Ohio State Buckeyes
12/2/2000 12:00:00 AM | Women's Volleyball
Dec. 2, 2000
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COLUMBUS, Ohio – Ohio State (26-6 overall), down two games to one, rallied to defeat Notre Dame (26-7) in a two-hour, five-game thriller. The 15-12, 3-15, 9-15, 15-6, 15-13 victory sends Ohio State to the semifinals of the Central Region against top-ranked Nebraska (30-0), a 3-2 (15-11, 9-15, 13-15, 15-12, 15-13) winner over South Carolina (22-7).
A career-high 28 kills by OSU’s Sue Calligaris (So., Palermo, Italy/Liceo Linguistico) played a key role in the Buckeye win. Anne Botica (Jr., Windsor, Ont./St. Joseph) added 18 kills with Dana Stearns (Sr., Bexley, Ohio/Bexley) collecting 12 and Suzie Stiling (So., Glenview, Ill./Glenbrook South) 10. Notre Dame’s Kristy Kreher and Christi Girton shared team-high honors with 17 kills each with Malinda Goralski and Marcie Bomhack adding 13 each.
Notre Dame broke a 3-3 tie in game one with an ace by Girton, a kill by Goralski and blocks by Bomhack and Goralski and Goralski and Kreher to take a 7-3 lead. At 8-4 Irish, the Buckeyes, with a Notre Dame error, a Calligaris kill, a Botica ace and a Stearns kill tied the game at eight. Two Irish errors and kills by Draeger and Calligaris put Ohio State ahead 12-8. Notre Dame came back to tie the game at 12 off kills by Girton and Kreher and two OSU errors. Back-to-back kills by Botica set game point for Ohio State at 14-12. Notre Dame stopped three Buckeye game points before an ace by Calligaris ended the game at 15-12.
Notre Dame opened a 7-0 lead in game two and quickly ended the game at 15-3.
The Irish broke a 3-3 tie in game three to take a 9-3 lead. OSU close to 12-8 but Notre Dame closed out the game for a 15-9 win to take a 2-1 lead in the match.
Ohio State trailed 3-1 in game four but an Irish error and an ace by Stiling tied the game at three. A Botica kill put OSU ahead 4-3. A kill by Stearns, blocks by Stearns and Botica and Stearns and Calligaris and an Irish error put Ohio State up 8-3. A kill by ND’s Girton and one by OSU’s Draeger made it 9-4. A Buckeye error closed the lead to 9-5. OSU scored five consecutive points on a Stearns ace, a block by Draeger and Stiling, a second Stearns ace, a Stiling kill and a Calligaris kill to reach game point at 14-5. A Goralski kill sided out on the game point. A kill by Bomhack cut the lead to 14-6. The Irish held off a second game point before a solo block by Stiling closed the game at 15-6 to tie the match at two games each.
In the rally scoring fifth game Ohio State opened the scoring with a Calligaris kill. A Buckeye error tied the game at one. Notre Dame took a 2-1 lead on a Girton kill. Calligaris tied the game at two with a kill. Another Calligaris kill put OSU up 3-2. A Kreher kill tied the game at three. Calligaris gave OSU a 4-3 lead with a kill but a Bomhack kill tied it up at four. The Irish took a 5-4 lead with a Kreher kill but OSU tied it at five with a Stiling kill. Kreher’s kill put Notre Dame ahead 6-5, but a Botica kill made it six-all. The teams traded hitting errors for a 7-7 tie. Botica’s kill put OSU up 8-7 but Girton’s kill tied it at eight. An Irish service error put Ohio State ahead 9-8 but a Girton kill tied it at nine. Calligaris countered with a kill for a 10-9 lead. An Irish error put OSU ahead 11-9 as Notre Dame called time out. A Kreher kill cut the lead to one at 11-10 but Calligaris connected on her 28th kill to put OSU up 12-10. Kreher countered with a kill to make it 12-11. Stiling’s kill made it 13-11 and a setter dink by Katie Virtue (So., St. Charles, Ill./St. Francis) made it match point at 14-11. After an Irish time out, Kreher and Jo Jameyson combined for a point on a block to cut the lead to 14-12. With the Irish serving on OSU’s second match point, a Buckeye hitting error cut the lead to one at 14-13 as Ohio State called time out. An Irish error on the third match point ended the game at 15-13.
Notre Dame, for the match, hit .280 to .218 for Ohio State. The Irish had a 17-9 edge in blocks. Ohio State had a 78-73 margin in kills and outdug the Irish 75 to 57. The Buckeye outserved Notre Dame seven to three.
