June 7, 2013
NOTRE DAME, Ind. – Entering its inaugural season in the Atlantic Coast Conference, the University of Notre Dame volleyball team will play a full 20-match league schedule to highlight a 32-match regular season slate in 2013, head coach Debbie Brown announced Thursday.
“The excitement of our new conference is definitely the highlight of our schedule,” said Brown. “We look forward to playing new teams and developing new rivalries within the ACC. It’s one of the premier conferences for volleyball and we’re very happy to be a part of it. We will be challenged with some nationally competitive teams in the non-conference portion on the front end of our schedule, which we believe will prepare us well for the rigors of the ACC.”
The Irish open up the 2013 campaign with four tournaments in the season’s first four weeks, including the annual Golden Dome (Sept. 6-8) and Shamrock Invitationals (Sept. 13-14) at Purcell Pavilion, which will take place in back-to-back weeks in the first part of September. The road tournaments include the Blue Raider Bash at Middle Tennessee State University in Murfreesboro, Tenn., to open the year (Aug. 30-31) and the Kansas Invitational (Sept. 21-22) in Lawrence, Kan., to close out the non-conference schedule. All four tournaments offer competitive foes as the Irish get ready for the ACC slate.
Notre Dame begins its first road trip in the ACC with a trip to the Tar Heel State for showdowns with North Carolina (Sept. 27) and NC State (Sept. 29). The matchup with UNC will actually be the second of the season as the two teams open the 2013 campaign against each other at the Blue Raider Bash in a match that was scheduled before the Irish moved up their ACC venture from 2015 to 2013.
The Irish will next play host to their first two ACC matches as Duke (Oct. 2) and Wake Forest (Oct. 4) invade Purcell Pavilion for the first of 10 league matches at home. Overall, Notre Dame has 16 home matches, up from 13 a season ago.
Following a two-day road swing to Clemson (Oct. 11) and Wake Forest (Oct. 12), the Irish welcome in Miami (Oct. 18) and Florida State (Oct. 20). Notre Dame closes out October with road matches at Virginia Tech (Oct. 25) and Virginia (Oct. 27).
Ten league matches compose the month of November, as the ACC doesn’t sponsor a conference tournament. The month opens with Maryland (Nov. 1) and Pittsburgh (Nov. 3) coming to Notre Dame, before the Irish hit the road for four consecutive matches – Syracuse (Nov. 6), Boston College (Nov. 9), Miami (Nov. 15) and Florida State (Nov. 17). The regular season concludes with four home matches – Virginia Tech (Nov. 20), Virginia (Nov. 22), Boston College (Nov. 29) and Syracuse (Nov. 30).
Notre Dame is 78-20 all-time against current ACC teams (including Pitt and Syracuse), including many battles with Boston College, Miami, Pittsburgh, Syracuse and Virginia Tech when those schools were in the BIG EAST. The lone conference opponent that the Irish have never played is Maryland.
Ten of the 32 regular season matches will be against NCAA Championship teams from a year ago, including Sweet 16 team Purdue (Sept. 7). Bowling Green (Sept. 6), Florida State (Oct. 20, Nov. 17), NC State (Sept. 29), Miami (Oct. 18, Nov. 15), Kansas (Sept. 22) and North Carolina (Aug. 30, Sept. 27) also qualified for the NCAA Championship. Of those teams, Bowling Green, Florida State, Kansas and North Carolina joined Purdue in advancing past the first round.
Ticket information for home matches will be released in the later this summer. For complete information on Notre Dame volleyball follow the team on Facebook (Facebook.com/NDVolleyball) or on Twitter (@NDVolleyball).
Notre Dame is coming off a 2012 season where they went 20-10 and qualified for the NCAA Championship for the first time since 2009. Notre Dame returns two honorable mention All-Americans in juniors Toni Alugbue and Jeni Houser and an all-BIG EAST performer in senior Maggie Brindock. The squad recently returned from an 11-day European tour where they played six exhibition matches to help prepare them for the upcoming season.
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