Sept. 30, 2006
SOUTH ORANGE, N.J.- Head volleyball coach Debbie Brown won the 500th match of her career in an Irish (9-5, 3-0 BIG EAST) 3-0 sweep over Seton Hall (9-7, 1-2 BIG EAST) on Saturday, Sept. 30 in South Orange, N.J. Brown became only the 28th coach in the NCAA to win 500 matches. Notre Dame won the match by the game scores of 30-22, 30-22, 30-24. It was the fourth time the Irish have swept an opponent this season and the first time the Pirates have lost at home on the year. Notre Dame has now won its last three matches.
Junior Adrianna Stasiuk (Park Ridge, Ill./Maine South) led the attack for Notre Dame with her 10th double-double of the season. She tallied a match high 12 kills and 10 digs in the victory. She also was a force on defense with five blocks, which was tied with sophomore Justine Stremick (Langdon, N.D./Langdon Area) for the team lead. Freshman Jamel Nicholas (Gibsonia, Pa./Pine -Richland) led the Irish with 16 assists. Libero Danielle Herdon (Park City, Fla./Durant) had a match best 19 digs for Notre Dame for the 12th time this season. The Irish out hit the Pirates .225 to .091. By holding Seton Hall under .100 for a hitting percentage, it was the first time since Nov. 19, 2005 against Cincinnati that the Irish defense approached this milestone. Freshman Kim Kristoff (Carmel, Ind./Brebeuf Jesuit Prep) continued her strong play with a three kill afternoon on a .429 hitting percentage. Junior setter Ashley Tarutis (Long Beach, Calif./Los Alamitos) had steady performance with 15 assists and seven digs. Freshman Megan Fesl (Arlington Heights, Ill./John Hersey) just missed out on a double-double with eight kills and 11 digs.
In game one, the Pirates jumped out to an early 9-5 lead. Notre Dame rallied and took the lead at 11-9 on back-to-back kills from Stasiuk. The Irish extended the lead to nine on an attack error from the Pirates at 21-12. After the Pirates closed and got within four the Irish ended the game on a 6-1 run capped off by a Stremick kill. Notre Dame took a 20-13 lead in game two, but Seton Hall rallied to cut the deficit to 21-19, leading to an Irish timeout. Notre Dame responded with a 9-3 run to win game two 30-22, finished off by a Fesl service ace. In game three, the Pirates looked strong at the start, taking an 8-5 lead, but the Irish were able to put together another run, taking the next seven points and the lead at 12-8. SHU came back, cutting the Notre Dame lead to four at 23-19, but the Irish held off Seton Hall, as they took game three and the match 30-24 on a Fesl kill off the dish from Nicholas.
“I’m very blessed to have coached the 22 years that I have,” Coach Brown commented on her 500th victory. “I have coached at two great institutions (Arizona State and Notre Dame) with some talented coaches and some wonderful student-athletes. The credit and my success as a head coach can be attributed to the student-athletes that have gone out and played hard for me everyday. I’m happy with the milestone and hope to continue coaching for many more years.”
The Irish will now return home to play a pair of BIG EAST Conference matches next weekend. Notre Dame will play against Marquette at 4 p.m. on Friday, Oct. 6 and then take on Syracuse on Sunday, Oct. 8 at 1 p.m. These will be the first two of four home matches that take place during home football weekends this season.
Notes: Notre Dame and Coach Brown are now 12-0 lifetime against Seton Hall.