Volleyball drops three matches

Despite many close sets, the women's volleyball team lost all three matches in South Bend, Ind. this weekend at the Golden Dome Invitational.
The Musketeers' closest match of the weekend was the tournament
opener against host Notre Dame (25-19, 18-25, 25-18, 28-30, 15-6). Although they made a late push to make it a five set match, Xavier eventually fell to the Fighting Irish.
The two sides traded victories
in the first two sets that were capped off with rallies by each team. In the first game, Notre Dame eventually surged for a win despite a Musketeer advantage halfway through the set, while the Muskies ended the second game on an 11-5 run.
After the Fighting Irish rolled past Xavier in the third set and in the first half of the fourth, the Musketeers came back to tie the game at 18 and then 24. After fighting off five match-points from Notre Dame, the Muskies won the set 30-28 to force a fifth game. However, Notre Dame was able to win the last set handily to win the match.
Junior Sarah Brown, redshirt junior Alex Smith and sophomore Aubree Smith were the standouts
for Xavier in the first match. Brown recorded 17 kills and 26 digs, Alex Smith was dominant with 15 kills and a .359 hitting percentage and Aubree Smith had 48 assists.
The next two matches were difficult for the Musketeers, getting
swept against Kansas the following morning (25-15, 25-21, 25-17) and then losing to Loyola Marymount in four sets (20-25, 25-16, 25-23, 25-23) later that day to end the tournament.
Although none of the games were close against Kansas, Xavier was able to take the first set against Loyola Marymount Lions before dropping the next three. The Lions took the second set handily, but the Musketeers bounced back in the next set, going ahead 15-8 before eventually losing the set.
The fourth and final set was back and forth until Loyola Marymount finally grabbed a match win away from the Musketeers.
Xavier begins Atlantic 10 play at 7 p.m. on Friday night against Saint Louis in Cintas and will