FORT COLLINS, Colo. – The Notre Dame volleyball team swept the Colorado State Rams Friday night, 25-12, 25-19, 27-25 in their first road game of the season. The Irish are now 2-3 on the season.
Morgan Gaerte and Sydney Helmers paced the Irish offensively. Gaerte registered 14 kills on the night, putting over 100 just five games into the season, while Helmers had a career-high 11 kills on a .429 hitting percentage.
Grace Langer, a native of nearby Centennial, Colorado, tallied 11.0 points on the night. She had nine kills and four block assists.
The Irish had six service aces on the night, three courtesy of Maya Evens. The freshman libero also tallied nine digs and six assists on the evening.
How it happened
Notre Dame opened the match on a 6-0 run, silencing a ruckus crowd of 7,753 early in Moby Arena, Sydney Helmers led the way early with three early kills on three chances, including the kill that forced the first Colorado State timeout of the night.
With the Rams crawling back, the Irish pulled off a 4-0 run courtesy of a pair of Helmers kills and an Anna Bjork ace that forced the second Rams timeout of the set with Notre Dame up 16-9. The Irish continued to roll after that, winning the first set in dominant fashion, 25-12.
Both teams exchanged blows to open up the second set. With the score knotted at eight-all, Notre Dame went on a 5-0 run, capped by a Helmers ace, to force a Colorado State timeout. The Irish were able to sustain that lead throughout the set, taking the second set 25-19 and a commanding 2-0 lead in the match.
With their backs against the walls, the Rams came out fast in the third set, taking an 15-8 lead that forced an Irish timeout. However, Notre Dame slowly creeped back into it, tying the set up at 20-20 following back-to-back kills by Helmers. After back-and-forth points,Colorado State earned three consecutive points to set up set point 24-22. But the Irish didn’t back down. A Morgan Gaerte kill and a Maya Evens ace tied it up at 24, causing the Rams to take a timeout. With the match tied at 25-all, a Colorado State attack error put the Irish on match point. That’s when Gaerte smashed her 14th kill of the game, giving Notre Dame its second win of the season and first sweep of 2025.
Notre Dame will look to keep it rolling tomorrow when the Irish take on East Texas A&M at 2 p.m. ET/12 p.m. MT at Moby Arena in Fort Collins in a neutral site contest. It’s the first meeting between the two schools.