The Georgetown volleyball team (12-8, 2-2 Big East) went .500 on the weekend, splitting a pair of home matches with DePaul (1-16, 0-4 Big East) and Notre Dame (11-5, 4-0 Big East).

On Friday, the Blue and Gray came from 19-15 down in the third set and 20-13 down in the fourth set to beat DePaul in 25-19, 15-25, 25-21, 25-23.

“Our team fought extremely well,” Head Coach Arlisa Williams said. “We played great defense, averaging over 16 digs a game, and we served extremely well. Those three allowed us to go out and win a game even though we did not play as well as we could.”

Instrumental in the comebacks were senior outside hitter Kortney Robinson, who had four aces in the match, as well as sophomore outside hitter Paris Coleman, who led the team with 16 digs. Senior middle blocker Vanessa Dorismond also had several crucial kills at the end of the third and fourth sets to clinch the win against the Blue Demons.

“Every single person on our team, though, stepped up and held themselves accountable and held each other accountable,” Williams said. “Even though we were down at times, they just really fought back individually and kept the group together.”

Unfortunately, the Blue and Gray were unable to maintain their momentum heading into Sunday’s match against the Fighting Irish, as they lost in straight sets 25-13, 25-22 and 25-19.

The Hoyas got off to a rough start, falling behind 8-2 in the first set and were unable to catch up, falling 25-13. The second set went better for the hosts, as Georgetown took an early 7-2 lead… The set would feature seven ties and three lead changes, but at 21-21 the Fighting Irish stepped up and won four of the next five points to win the set and take an imposing 2-0 set lead.

The third set played out much like the first, with the Hoyas dropping the set 25-19 and falling to the Fighting Irish three sets to none.

“We could not take care of the first ball passing, our block setup was not what it needed to be – all things that we’ve worked on all week and things that our players know how to do on a regular basis, we just didn’t pull it all together against Notre Dame,” Williams said. “But they’re good, they’re a very well-coached team that makes changes, [and] we just did not do what we needed to do.”

The Hoyas found it especially difficult to contain Notre Dame freshman outside hitter Andrea McHugh, who had 19 kills, as well as senior middle blocker Kellie Sciacca, who contributed 11 kills of her own.

A bright spot for the Blue and Gray was junior setter Ashley Malone, who tallied 24 assists (on 44 total points won), four kills and seven digs. Robinson, senior outside hitter Samantha Trauth and freshman outside hitter Brooke Bachesta also had seven kills apiece.

“Our players were really keyed up for Notre Dame, we’re always excited to play Notre Dame, but I think some of that energy exhibited itself in a negative way,” Williams said. “Moving forward our team will demonstrate that fight we demonstrated against DePaul. Our team has demonstrated fight all year, I think that’s just who we are, we’re a group of fighters.”

Georgetown will look to get back on track this weekend with road matches at West Virginia (12-7, 2-2 Big East) Friday and Pittsburgh (8-11, 3-1 Big East) Sunday before returning to McDonough Arena the following weekend.