Aug. 20, 2005
By Bo Rottenborn
The 2005 edition of the University of Notre Dame women’s volleyball team heads into the season as one of the most-experienced ever to take the floor. The Irish are led by nine returning players – all of whom have been starters at some point during their careers – including all but one starter from last year’s squad. In addition, Notre Dame will add a quartet of talented newcomers who figure to push to make an immediate contribution. That group will try to continue Notre Dame’s dominance in BIG EAST play and also construct a deep run into the NCAA tournament.
“Going into the season, we are optimistic,” says 15th-year Irish head coach Debbie Brown. “We feel like it’s the year for us to do really well, since we have five seniors, all of whom boast considerable experience. Since we lost just one starter, I think we’re in a good position to improve on last year’s team and just be a lot more consistent. We will take it a day at a time, but I think the prospects look really good. We feel confident with our depth at each position, and we think the team learned a lot throughout the spring and throughout our summer trip to Europe. But we definitely have to take our game to a higher level.”
Notre Dame is coming off a 2004 season which proved to be an up-and-down ride that ultimately ended with the Irish going 21-9, winning both the regular-season and tournament titles in the BIG EAST Conference, and earning a 13th-consecutive bid to the NCAA Championship. The Irish, who fell in the second round of the NCAAs, ended the season listed 33rd in the American Volleyball Coaches Association (AVCA) national poll. That squad graduated three seniors: four-year starter Emily Loomis, sometime contributor Kelly Corbett, and Leah Nedderman, who missed the last half of her career due to an injury.
“That class really consisted of great team players,” says Brown. “Emily is an incredible athlete, and she always was willing to play whatever position we needed her in. I feel bad that Leah didn’t really get to complete her career because of the injuries, but she always remained very supportive of the team. Kelly came in as a middle blocker, but made the switch to defensive specialist, where she filled a critical role for us last year. We will miss all of them on the court, but even more, we will miss their personalities and the way they were always positive.”
Despite those losses, Notre Dame returns nine of its top 10 players (in terms of games played) from the ’04 squad, which means this year’s team will be dominated by veterans, something that Brown believes will be a critical difference: “I think we’ll be a more mature team. Last year, we had one starting senior, while this year, we have a really solid core of seniors that should all see a lot of time on the court. I think that is going to make us better. Experience is something that can’t be taught; you learn the more you play. We have a core group of players that have been playing. It’s their senior year, and I think we expect a lot of them.”
Sophomore Ellen Heintzman, who earned eight starts at outside hitter during her rookie season, will be among the top contenders to fill the only vacant spot in the starting lineup, the outside-hitter position previously filled by Emily Loomis.
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Leading that group will be the team’s co-captains, seniors L/OH Meg Henican and MB Lauren Brewster. Henican was the solo Irish captain in 2004, but she will be joined by her classmate in the leadership role this season. “I think it’s a really good combination,” says Brown. “The two of them complement each other well; they are both strong leaders, very competitive, and hard workers who lead by example. We depend on our captains to fill a pretty major role, and I think they will be very effective, in particular in communicating with their teammates.”
Brewster, who has been a starter since she first arrived on campus, has developed into one of the top middle blockers in the nation. She became the first Irish player ever to lead the nation in a statistical category, coming in first in blocking in 2003. A season ago, she was tabbed a third-team All-American by the AVCA, becoming the first Notre Dame player to earn a spot on the AVCA All-America teams. Brewster also stands as the only Tennessee native at any four-year school ever to be an AVCA All-American.
The 2005 BIG EAST Preseason Player of the Year after being first-team all-conference as a sophomore and junior, she was one of just two Division I players (along with Texas A&M’s Melissa Munsch) to average over 1.50 blocks (1.54) and 1.50 digs (2.18) per game in 2004. Brewster has to her credit seven BIG EAST statistical titles – blocking in both overall and league matches in each of the last three years, as well as hitting percentage in conference action in ’03 – which is tops in Notre Dame history. She has been the league’s player of the week six times, also the most by an Irish student-athlete since ND joined the conference. In 2004, Brewster became the first middle blocker since 1988 to lead the Irish in kills (406/3.62), and she also paced the team in blocking, points (533/4.76), and attack percentage (.313). She was the BIG EAST tournament MVP as a junior and enters her final season ranking second in the Irish record book in career hitting percentage (.316) and block average (1.66). Brewster needs 167 blocks (a total which she has eclipsed in each of the last three campaigns) to reach the ND record for career blocks.
“Brewster has continued to be unbelievably steady for us, both blocking and hitting,” says Brown. “Obviously, teams know she is going to get the ball a lot, but sometimes it just doesn’t matter. She is a good competitor, plays high above the net, and has a good understanding of the game. We will expect a lot, and she is going to have to carry a pretty heavy load for us this year.”
Joining Brewster in returning for a fourth year in the Irish starting lineup is senior Lauren Kelbley, who made the switch to outside hitter late in 2003 after being a middle blocker throughout most of her first two collegiate seasons. An honorable-mention All-America pick by the AVCA in both 2003 and ’04, she stands as one of only two Division I players (along with Minnesota libero Paula Gentil) to have garnered all-region accolades from the AVCA in each of the last three years. Kelbley, a unanimous pick on the preseason all-league team in ’05, is the first Notre Dame player ever to be tabbed to one of the all-BIG EAST teams in her first three years, having been a first-team honoree in 2003 and a second-teamer in both 2002 and ’04. The 2002 rookie of the year in both the BIG EAST and the AVCA’s Northeast Region, Kelbley is the only Irish student-athlete to rank among the top five in the career record book in both kill average (3.27) and hitting percentage (.293). She enters her final season ranking 14th in career kills (1,022) and with a chance to finish among the top five.
“Lauren can play anywhere and do it well,” says Brown. “Her versatility allows us to move her around in the front row. If we want her to block middle or if we want her to block left or right, she can do that. She also is versatile in her attacking, which makes her more effective. There’s no question that for us to do the things we want to accomplish, she’s going to be a big part of our offense, as well as an important part of our blocking scheme.”
Henican has established herself as one of the top defensive players to ever don an Irish uniform. In 2004, she broke the Notre Dame records for digs (553) and dig average (4.94), while also combining with teammate Adrianna Stasiuk for the highest single-season dig total ever by Irish teammates (884). Henican, who has been the top Irish libero for most of the past two seasons but has also seen time in a starting role at outside hitter, scrambled for 37 digs in a four-game win at Seton Hall on Oct. 10, 2004, setting a Notre Dame record for digs in any-length match. She also had 27 in the opening round of the NCAA tournament against Valparaiso, the most-ever for an ND player in the NCAAs. Henican needs 485 digs in her final season to reach the Irish record for career digs, while she stands poised to shatter the mark for dig average (currently at 3.81). She has notched 10 or more digs in 38 of the last 39 Irish matches, including 26 in a row. Henican enters 2005 having played in 239 consecutive games, the longest streak in program history. She also is a consistent receiver, having helped Notre Dame to the two best seasons of opponent ace average in program history.
“We have looked at Meg both as an outside hitter and as a libero,” says Brown. “She did some good things in the spring as an outside hitter, and she is definitely agreeable to doing whatever is better for the team. I think she has been our most steady passer over the years, and she’s done a great job on defense. I think she’s one of the best liberos in the country, so sometimes it’s hard to take her out of that spot. But she also has shown times of being really strong as an outside hitter.”
Debbie Brown’s 2005 team has been picked to finish second in the newly expanded BIG EAST Conference.
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Another senior, Carolyn Cooper, returns for her second season as a starting middle blocker. She has been a key contributor for the Irish throughout her career, but she finally moved into a starting role a month into the 2004 campaign. Cooper has helped Notre Dame notch a 17-2 record in matches that she has started, and she provided an immediate boost to the Irish block in ’04. She contributed 1.38 blocks per game as a starter and ranked eighth in the BIG EAST in blocking in league matches, while helping Notre Dame average 3.80 blocks per game in the matches she started.
“Carolyn finished the season last year strong for us in the middle spot, and we anticipate that she will fill that role again,” says Brown. “She is going to be important for us, both blocking and offensively. I think that towards the end of the year she got stronger and stronger offensively, and that’s important because we need to have her become an effective weapon, whether she is at middle or opposite.”
The other starter back in the front row is sophomore Adrianna Stasiuk, one of the team’s best all-around players who stepped into lineup at opposite in her rookie campaign. Stasiuk was among the team’s top four in six statistical categories, including leading the squad (and ranking second in the BIG EAST) in aces (41/0.37), coming from her potent jump serve. She became just the second Irish freshman ever to serve up 40+ aces and also notched the first triple-double by a Notre Dame player since 1998, when she had 14 kills, 11 digs, and 11 blocks vs. Illinois State in ’04. She joins Henican as one of the team’s primary serve receivers and also can contribute in a setting role.
“The thing Adrianna brings is great all-around play,” says Brown, a two-time winner of the Mikasa Award as the nation’s top all-around player during her college days. “She’s a very good passer and a really good defensive player who also has a great jump serve and the ability to hit either right or left. Probably more than anyone else, she took her game to a new level in Europe. She hit as well as I’ve ever seen her hit, so that was really encouraging. She gives us a lot of versatility with our lineup.” Also returning for her second year as a starter is sophomore Ashley Tarutis, who became Notre Dame’s top setter in the third match of 2004 and posted a 20-8 mark from then on. She nearly notched the biggest upset in program history (in terms of national rankings) in her first start before going on to help the Irish lead the BIG EAST in hitting percentage in league play (.254).
“Ashley brings tremendous energy to the floor, which is critical for us,” says Brown. “She does not allow the team to become apathetic, and I think her set location has gotten better and better. Her understanding of the game also has improved, along with her knowledge of when to set which people and how to get the team as strong as possible offensively. We anticipate that she’s going to have a significant role in the setting position.”
Senior setter Kelly Burrell has seen considerable floor time in mostly a reserve role throughout the first three years of her career. She began the 2004 season as the team’s starter, but then played most of the campaign coming off the bench to play in two front-row rotations. She figures to again provide Notre Dame a variety of options at the setter position. “Kelly had a really good spring,” says Brown. “She didn’t play quite as much as Ashley did in the fall, but it was important for us to be able to use her. I think if she continues to improve as she did in the spring, then she can participate in a larger role, and we’ll be able to experiment with different ways of using the setters. Obviously she and Ashley will really push each other hard at that position. She also has a great serve and is probably our strongest front-row setter.”
Another veteran on the Irish roster is junior Danielle Herndon, who has been a regular for the Irish throughout her career at both defensive specialist and libero. She began both of the last two campaigns as the top Notre Dame libero, but then on both occasions played at DS for most of the season.
“Dani will be important for us again, either in the libero or the D.S. spot,” says Brown. “She showed us in spurts that she can be as good as Meg in being really aggressive and just having great matches defensively. We just have to get her to bring that to us every day. She tends to not be as vocal, but we would like her to get more comfortable with being a spark plug on the team. We did see sparks of that in the spring and in Europe.” Sophomore Ellen Heintzman was a regular at times during her freshman year, registering eight starts at outside hitter. She figures to be one of the top contenders for the starting spot vacated by Loomis.
“Ellen made really good progress in the spring with her hitting,” says Brown. “She used her shots a lot more effectively, became more efficient, and probably was our steadiest outside hitter throughout the spring. As long as she continues to develop that way, she’ll be valuable for us.”
Though the team figures to be veteran heavy, there are four newcomers who also look to be contributors for the Irish in 2005. Madison Clark, a first-team all-Michigan selection who hails from Sturgis (just 50 miles away from Notre Dame), could contribute for the Irish as either a setter or libero. Mallorie Croal, the California prep player of the year in 2003 and a product of the same Golden West club team that produced Tarutis, was a Fab 50 pick by Volleyball magazine and was ranked 32nd in PrepVolleyball.com’s rankings of the top prep seniors, putting her in position to challenge for a starting spot immediately. Annie Mokris has seen time as both a setter and a defensive specialist in her prep and club days, but figures to add depth to the Irish back row. Justine Stremick, the North Dakota player of the year, is a raw talent at middle blocker who has potential to become a standout.
“We’re excited about this group,” says Brown. “I think it’s an interesting one, because they have a variety of different experiences. It is a really versatile class. We have really high aspirations for Justine; we know she needs to learn a lot coming in, but we also know she has tremendous upside. Mallorie has the most experience at a high level of all of them and has been a dominant player in southern California for three years. Madison is incredibly versatile; she is a very good setter, but also has really good backrow skills. Annie has a lot of experience and has a real passion for Notre Dame and for the game, so we think she will be a very good addition, as well.”