Sept. 5, 2005
Senior All-America middle blocker Lauren Brewster (Brentwood, Tenn./Brentwood H.S.) and freshman OH Mallorie Croal (Villa Park, Calif./Mater Dei H.S.) combined to lead a Notre Dame volleyball sweep of the BIG EAST Conference’s major weekly awards, it was announced Monday. The veteran, the league’s preseason player of the year, was tabbed the BIG EAST Player of the Week, while Croal was the rookie of the week. They led Notre Dame to an upset of #11 Texas and the championship of The Inn at Saint Mary’s Shamrock Invitational over the weekend.
Brewster became just the second player ever to be a two-time MVP of the Shamrock Invitational (following the only other All-American in program history, OH Christy Peters, who did so in 1993 and ’94), copping the award as much for her stellar fifth-game play as her overall success. She was the top Irish performer in both game fives over the weekend, combining for 10 kills on .381 hitting to go with four digs and two blocks in those decisive frames. Brewster had four of ND’s five kills – plus two blocks and two digs – to lead the Irish to a 15-10 game-five win against the Longhorns on Saturday. She then posted six kills on just nine swings to go with a pair of digs in helping Notre Dame beat Arizona State by the same final-game tally on Sunday.
For the tournament, Brewster led all players in both kills (46, 4.60 per game) and blocks (15, 1.50 per game) and was second in hitting percentage (.310). She also had 10 digs (1.00), two assists, and a service ace for 56.5 points (5.65). Brewster was the main component in Notre Dame’s offense, as she took nearly 30% of the Irish attack attempts in the event, including a career-high 64 vs. ASU.
The Irish senior co-captain led Notre Dame to its highest-ranked victory in more than two years (since an upset of #10 Arizona on Aug. 27, 2003) on Saturday, finishing with team highs in kills (18), blocks (12), and points (25.5) to go with five digs. It marked the fourth consecutive year that the Irish have upset at top-15 squad, making this year’s senior class one of just two in program history (also the class of ’95) to accomplish that feat. On Sunday, Brewster posted a career-high 28 kills, the most by any player in the Joyce Center since Sept. 21, 2000, when Loyola Marymount’s Sarah McFarland had 45 and Kristy Kreher of Notre Dame posted 32 in a four-game Irish triumph. Brewster had a .328 attack percentage and also registered five digs, three blocks, and an ace for 31 points. Brewster has had 20+ kills five times in her career and has been in double figures in the category in seven straight matches and 13 of the last 14 (plus 55 times in her career). The double-double against the Longhorns was the 18th of her career, and she has had 10+ blocks on 15 occasions. She ranks among the Notre Dame career leaders in several categories: hitting percentage (2nd, .317), block average (2nd, 1.66), total blocks (3rd, 553), block assists (3rd, 473), solo blocks (6th, 80), kill average (7th, 3.22), and matches with 10+ kills (9th, 56).
The Brentwood, Tenn., native earned the award for the seventh time in her career, the most ever by an Irish player. She was a first-team all-BIG EAST selection in both 2003 and ’04 after earning honorable-mention accolades as a rookie (when she also was the conference’s rookie of the week once). Through the first two weeks of the regular season, she is among the top eight in the conference leaders in three categories: third in both kills (4.77 per game) and blocks (1.62) and eighth in hitting percentage (.333).
Croal saw limited action in her first collegiate match on Aug. 27, but was pushed into the starting lineup this past weekend due to knee injury to sophomore OH Ellen Heintzman (Louisville, Ky./Sacred Heart Academy). She responded with a pair of double-doubles, finishing the tournament with 30 kills (3.00 per game) on .212 hitting to go with 32 digs (3.20) and five blocks (0.50) for 34.5 points (3.45). Croal was one of two freshmen to be named to the Shamrock Invitational all-tournament team.
In her first collegiate start, Croal had 15 kills and 10 digs in Saturday’s win against Texas. She followed that up with another 15-kill match on Sunday, when she also led Notre Dame in digs with 22 and registered a collegiate-high four blocks, including three of the solo variety.
The Notre Dame rookie was a heralded recruit prior to stepping onto campus, having been named the California Interscholastic Federation (CIF) state MVP for Division II in 2003 and a Volleyball magazine Fab 50 selection. A two-time prepvolleyball.com All-American, she was ranked #32 in that website’s list of top high school seniors last year.
Croal is the eighth Notre Dame player ever to be named BIG EAST Rookie of the Week and the first since current sophomore OPP Adrianna Stasiuk (Park Ridge, Ill./Maine South H.S.) was a two-time pick a year ago (Oct. 11 and 18).
Brewster and Croal combined for the fifth Irish sweep of the BIG EAST’s weekly awards since Notre Dame became a league member in 1995. Brewster and Stasiuk accomplished the feat last season on Oct. 18, but prior to that it had not been done since Nov. 5, 2001 (Player: Kreher; Rookie: Emily Loomis). The previous two occasions came on Nov. 17, 1997, (Player: Angie Harris; Rookie: Christi Girton) and Sept. 2, 1996 (Player: Jaimie Lee; Rookie: Mary Leffers).
Brewster, Croal and the Irish – who jumped into the national rankings on Monday at 19th – will travel to San Antonio, Texas, this weekend for the UTSA Dome Rally in the Alamodome, which also will play host to this year’s NCAA final four. Notre Dame will play #8 Southern California on Friday at 7 p.m. (CDT), Oklahoma on Saturday at 1:30 p.m., and #6 Florida on Sunday at 11 a.m.