Sept. 13, 2005
The eighth-ranked University of Notre Dame women’s volleyball team, off to a 6-0 start for the first time since 1995 and holding its second-highest national ranking in history, finally has clarification on its schedule for the upcoming weekend. The Irish were originally slated to take part in the Nokia Sugar Bowl Classic, hosted by Tulane University in New Orleans. In light of damage caused by Hurricane Katrina, the tournament has been moved to Texas A&M University in College Station. The Irish will face the Green Wave (1-0) on Friday at 2 p.m. (CDT) before taking on Louisiana State (8-1) on Sunday at Noon.
All matches will take place in the G. Rollie White Coliseum on the campus of Texas A&M. It will be the first trip for Notre Dame volleyball to College Station since 1994, when the Irish beat the Aggies. After playing in the UTSA Dome Rally in San Antonio last weekend, ND will return to the Lone Star State – which has produced nine Irish volleyball players, including current senior MB Carolyn Cooper (Houston, Texas/Lutheran South Academy) – for the second week in a row. It will be the first time the ND volleyball team has ever made two different trips to Texas in the same campaign.
The members of the Tulane volleyball team have enrolled at Texas A&M this semester and will return to the court for the first time since beating Nicholls State 3-0 in the season opener on Aug. 26. Since then, the Green Wave has seen six matches cancelled.
LSU figures to provide a sizeable challenge to the first top-10 Irish team in nearly a decade. The Tigers are off to their best start since 1991 and are receiving votes (and listed 33rd) in this week’s AVCA poll. It is the first time LSU has garnered votes in the poll during the tenure of eighth-year head coach Fran Flory.
The Aggies – ranked 15th and coached by Laurie (Flachmeier) Corbelli, who was a teammate of Irish head coach Debbie Brown on the U.S. national team – will not take part in the tournament, as they open Big 12 Conference play this week, first traveling to Kansas on Wednesday and then playing host to #10 Missouri on Saturday.