Oct. 21, 2005
#9 Notre Dame (16-1, 6-0 BIG EAST) vs. South Florida (3-14, 1-6 BIG EAST)Friday, October 21, 4 p.m. (EST/CDT) • Joyce Center, Notre Dame, IN- Live Internet Audio: www.und.com- Real-Time Stats: www.und.com- Free t-shirts to the first 1,500 fans, courtesy of PJ Marketing
Notre Dame vs. Georgetown (5-15, 1-6 BIG EAST)Sunday, October 23, 2 p.m. (EST/CDT) • Joyce Center, Notre Dame, IN- Live Internet Audio: www.und.com- Real-Time Stats: www.und.com- Pre-game event sponsored by St. Joseph Regional Medical Center- First 300 fans receive a Notre Dame volleyball lunchbox- Irish Spikers post-match clinic #2
#9 IRISH BEGIN FIVE-MATCH HOMESTAND THIS WEEKEND WITH PRE-PEP RALLY AFFAIR: After playing 12 of its last 14 matches away from home, the ninth-ranked University of Notre Dame women’s volleyball team (16-1, 6-0 BIG EAST) will begin a five-match homestand this weekend by welcoming the University of South Florida (3-14, 1-6) on Friday for a 4 p.m. (EST/CDT) match and Georgetown University on Sunday for a 2 p.m. clash. The ND-USF affair, which will be the first ever between the schools in volleyball, will take place prior to the Irish football pep rally for the Brigham Young game. Admission is free to that match, and fans may keep their seats for the pep rally.
THE RADIO PLANS: Notre Dame’s official athletics website, und.com, features live internet audio broadcasts of all 14 Irish volleyball home matches, as well as one road tilt, in 2005. Stephen Hinkel and Chris Masters, two former collegiate volleyball sports information directors and veterans of announcing Notre Dame volleyball, will have the call for the Valparaiso match. Broadcasts are available to subscribers of Fighting Irish All-Access (details on und.com).
REAL-TIME STATS: Live in-game statistics, courtesy of College Sports Online’s GameTracker, will be made available for both matches, via the Notre Dame athletics web site, www.und.com.
Irish Items …
– Notre Dame has matched the best 17-match start in program history, opening 16-1 for the third time, joining the 1994 (20-1; 33-4) and `95 (16-1; 27-7) teams.
– The Irish began the year 7-0, upsetting #11 Texas (3-2), #8 USC (3-1), and #6 Florida (3-0). It is the first time ND has ever beaten three top-14 teams in the same regular season.
– Notre Dame is currently ranked ninth in the CSTV/AVCA Division I Coaches Top 25. The Irish peaked at #8 on Sept. 12, the highest ranking since `96 (and one off the all-time best for the program).
– ND is 6-0 in BIG EAST play for the 10th time in 11 years of league membership. The Irish and Louisville (6-0) are the only two unbeatens in conference play. For the first time since joining the BIG EAST, ND was not the preseason favorite (Louisville was). Notre Dame, which has won nine regular-season crowns and eight BIG EAST tournament titles in 10 years, hosts #6 Louisville on Oct. 29.
– Notre Dame came into the week as the only Division I school to appear in the NCAA statistical leaders (30 teams listed) in both blocking (6th, 3.56 per game) and digging (18th, 18.23). ND was in the top five in Division I in blocking from 2001-04, including first in `03 (Brewster was the ind. champ).
– Notre Dame boasts the top two blockers in the BIG EAST: seniors MB Lauren Brewster (1st, 1.54) and MB Carolyn Cooper (2nd, 1.48), who combine to make the Irish one of just three schools (also St. Mary’s and Wisconsin) with two among the NCAA’s top 25 blocking leaders (Brewster is 17th, Cooper is 22nd). Brewster, the `05 BIG EAST Preseason Player of the Year and an `04 All-American, was the National Player of the Week on Sept. 5. ND is 31-3 when Cooper starts.
– ND’s offense — led by sophomore setter Ashley Tarutis, who is 30th nationally in assists (12.67) — has been much improved over the last nine matches (16.67 K, .290) following a lineup shift (which included switching senior Meg Henican to libero and sophomore Adrianna Stasiuk to OH). In first 8 matches: 14.81 K, .200. ND is first in hitting (.311) in league play.
– Tarutis leads the BIG EAST in assists and is 36-9 as a starter (4-1 vs. top-15 teams).
– On Oct. 15 at DePaul, ND hit .522 (53-6-90), including .812 (14-1-16) in game three. It was the highest hitting mark for the Irish in 20 years (since 1986 vs. Marquette) and the 2nd-highest ever. The third game mark is the highest for ND in a game in the Debbie Brown era (which has had 1,703 games).
– ND had 21.5 blocks on Monday at Illinois State, a season high and the most in a match shorter than five games since it had 22.5 vs. St. John’s on Sept. 29, 2002.
– Henican is second in the BIG EAST in digs in league matches (5.15) and has a .984 reception percentage, including a streak of 238 in a row without an error from Sept. 25-Oct. 15.
– ND is on pace to break the Irish record for opponent ace average (0.75, record is 0.94 in `03). Henican had a streak of 238 consecutive receptions without an error snapped on Saturday at DePaul. Henican has a .984 reception percentage, while Stasiuk is at .970 and DS Danielle Herndon is .964.
– Notre Dame has five seniors on its roster in 2005, making it just the third ND team ever to have that.
– ND leads the all-time series with Georgetown (14-1) and has never played South Florida
HEAD COACH Debbie Brown: Irish head coach Debbie Brown is in her 15th season at the helm of the Notre Dame program. She has led the Irish to a 360-119 (.752) mark, while holding a 477-202 (.701) overall record. Brown’s Notre Dame teams have earned 13 consecutive NCAA tournament berths, advancing to the quarterfinals in 1993 and the round of 16 in `94, `95, and `97. Her squads have won 20 or more matches 12 times. A nine-time conference coach of the year and the only four-time BIG EAST coach of the year (in addition to four honors in the Midwestern Collegiate Conference and one in the Pac-10), she has coached eight Irish players to All-America honors, while 35 have gained all-BIG EAST mention since 1995. The Irish also have claimed 13 regular-season conference titles (4 Midwestern Collegiate, 9 BIG EAST) and 12 league tournament crowns (4 MCC, 8 BIG EAST). A co-captain of the 1980 U.S. Olympic volleyball team after winning a pair of national championships and earning All-America honors twice while playing at USC, Brown graduated from Arizona State in 1982 and coached her alma mater from 1983-88, helping the Sun Devils to five NCAA tournaments.
ND UP TO NINTH IN CSTV/AVCA POLL: After beating DePaul last weekend, Notre Dame moved up a spot to ninth in this week’s CSTV/AVCA Division I Coaches Poll. Notre Dame was a season-high eighth on Sept. 12, which was the highest ranking for the Irish since Sept. 3, 1996, and just one shy ofthe program best. Since being ranked for the first time in the preseason of 1992, the Irish have been listed in the AVCA top 25 at some point in every season except for one (1999). In all, Notre Dame has been ranked in 127 of the 206 polls since then (61%). Only 20 schools have been ranked on more occasions than the Irish since the AVCA rankings debuted in 1982, and just 16 have been in more polls since the commencement of the 1992 campaign.
BREWSTER TABBED BIG EAST PRESEASON POY; KELBLEY ON ALL-LEAGUE TEAM: Senior middle blocker Lauren Brewster (Brentwood, Tenn./Brentwood H.S.), a third-team All-American and the conference-tournament MVP in 2004, was tabbed the BIG EAST Preseason Player of the Year and is joined by fellow senior OH/MB Lauren Kelbley (Bascom, Ohio/Hopewell-Loudon H.S.) on the preseason all-BIG EAST team in voting by the league’s head coaches. Brewster is the fourth Notre Dame student-athlete – but first since 2001 – to be named the BIG EAST Preseason Player of the Year in the eight years since the award debuted in 1998. Other Irish competitors to enter the season with that distinction were setter Denise Boylan in both `98 and 2000 and OPP Kristy Kreher in 2001. Only two of the previous seven preseason players of the year have gone on to also be the postseason picks of the coaches as the BIG EAST’s best player in the same season: Boylan in 2000 and Pittsburgh’s now-graduated Megan Miller a season ago. Notre Dame has placed multiple players on the preseason all-BIG EAST teams in each of its eight years of existence.
STREAKS: The following streaks are active heading into this week:
– ND has won nine consecutive matches [last loss: 9/18 vs. Louisiana State, 2-3]
– ND has won five consecutive home matches [last loss: 11/16/04 vs. Northern Iowa, 2-3]
– ND has won 24 consecutive matches when winning game one [last loss: 10/20/04 at BYU, 2-3]
– ND has won 51 consecutive matches when winning the first two games [last loss: 9/18/02 at Purdue]
– ND has won eight consecutive matches when splitting the first two games [last loss: 11/16/04 vs. Northern Iowa, 2-3]
– ND has won 34 consecutive matches when finishing with a higher hitting percentage than its opponent [last loss: 11/16/03 at Pittsburgh, 2-3, .215-.170 hitting]
– ND has won 27 consecutive matches when finishing with more kills than its opponent [last loss: 11/16/03 at Pittsburgh, 2-3, 69-63 kills]
– ND has won 19 consecutive matches when finishing with more blocks than its opponent [last loss: 11/16/04 vs. Northern Iowa, 2-3, 18.5-15 blocks]
– ND has won 10 consecutive matches lasting three games [last loss: 12/4/04 at Wisconsin, NCAA second round]
– ND has won eight consecutive matches lasting four games [last loss: 9/28/04 at Michigan]
– ND has won 13 consecutive matches not played on neutral courts [last loss: 12/4/04 at Wisconsin, NCAA second round, 0-3]
– ND has won 10 consecutive matches against BIG EAST teams [last loss: 11/7/04 vs. Boston College, 0-3]
– ND has won 10 consecutive matches against the AVCA’s Northeast Region [last loss: 11/7/04 vs. Boston College, 0-3]
– ND has won four consecutive matches against nationally-ranked teams [last loss: 9/4/04 vs. #2 Nebraska, 2-3]
– ND has won six consecutive matches against Georgetown [last loss: 11/21/99, BIG EAST final at Pittsburgh, 0-3]
– Senior co-captain L/OH Meg Henican has had 10+ digs in 12 consecutive matches [last without: 9/10 vs. Oklahoma, 8 kills]
– Senior co-captain MB Lauren Brewster has had 10+ points in 45 consecutive matches [last without: 9/3/04 vs. #2 Nebraska, 9.5 points]
– Senior co-captain MB Lauren Brewster has hit .320+ in four consecutive matches [last below: 10/5 vs. Valparaiso, .179]
– Senior co-captain MB Lauren Brewster has had 10+ kills in six consecutive matches [last below: 9/30 at Syracuse, 4 kills]
– Senior co-captain MB Lauren Brewster has had 5+ blocks in three consecutive matches [last without: 10/8 at St. John’s, 2 blocks]
– Sophomore OH Adrianna Stasiuk has had 10+ kills in seven consecutive matches [last without: 9/27 at Loyola Chicago, 6 kills]
– Sophomore OH Adrianna Stasiuk has had 10+ points in seven consecutive matches [last without: 9/27 at Loyola Chicago, 8 points]
– Senior co-captain L/OH Meg Henican has played in each of the last 300 Irish games, the longest streak in school history [last game missed: 11/15/02 at Miami]
– Senior co-captain MB Lauren Brewster has played in all 109 Notre Dame matches since stepping onto campus
– Sophomore setter Ashley Tarutis has led Notre Dame in assists in all 47 matches as a collegian
– Sophomore setter Ashley Tarutis has had at least one kill in 10 consecutive matches [last without: 9/16 at Tulane]