Oct. 23, 2007
Final Stats
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BATON ROUGE, La. – The University of Notre Dame volleyball team came out on the short side of a 3-2 (30-27, 28-30, 30-16, 26-30, 15-15) battle with LSU in Tuesday evening’s non-conference match at the Pete Maravich Assembly Center.
Notre Dame (9-10 overall, 5-3 BIG EAST) is now 1-2 against teams from the Southeastern Conference after splitting matches with Florida and Alabama earlier in the season. The Irish will have a chance to even its record against SEC foes in a match at Tennessee on Nov. 23.
Senior Adrianna Stasiuk (Park Ridge, Ill./Maine South) collected 21 scoops to move into third-place on the school’s all-time digs list. She also had 15 kills and was one of two Irish players to post double-doubles, with sophomore Serinity Phillips (Valley Center, Calif./Valley Center) joining her with 20 kills and 17 digs.
Leading the Irish in the digs category with 23 was freshman Megan Dunne (Palos Heights, Ill./Mother McAuley), the most recorded by any member of the team this season. Dishing out 57 assists was senior Ashley Tarutis (Long Beach, Calif./Los Alamitos), who was bettered only by Maggie Lonergan’s 66 for LSU (18-4 overall, 9-3 SEC). Sophomore Jamel Nicholas (Gibsonia, Pa./Pine-Richland) came off the bench to get under 16 digs for Notre Dame.
Notre Dame fell behind in the match’s opening stages but an attack error by LSU’s Kyna Washington drew the first tie at 5-5. Sophomore Megan Fesl (Arlington Heights, Ill./John Hersey) dropped a kill to put ND ahead, 13-12, and Phillips’ sky shot gave them the lead by two. At 14-14, junior Justine Stremick’s (Langdon, N.D./Langdon Area) second attack of the play fell for the Notre Dame score and a 15-14 lead. LSU posted the next three points and Stremick smacked a crosscourt roller to bring Notre Dame within one. Phillips shot one down the left line to tie it at 17-17. Tarutis put up a quick set for freshman Kellie Sciacca (Monument, Colo./Lewis-Palmer) to tie the count at 23-23, then the game was locked again (24-24) when Stasiuk and Stremick teamed for a block. Kills from Stasiuk and Phillips kept ND alive and within one (28-27), but a Brittnee Cooper kill and an errant set was all the Tigers needed for the win.
Cooper would total 13 blocks and 21 kills in the match with a .613 hitting percentage.
Phillips had seven kills on 13 swings in the game, and the Irish out-hit LSU .277 to .255. Lauren DeGirolamo also had seven of her match-high 23 kills for LSU throughout an opening period that featured 18 ties and eight lead changes.
Three service errors and three receiving errors nearly doomed the Domers in game two, but Phillips added six more kills to spark a late rally as ND hit .298 in the frame to tie the match, 1-1. Notre Dame fell behind 5-3, but bounced back with two-straight missiles by Stasiuk to bind the stanza, 5-5. LSU could not get under Stremick’s slider that put the Irish behind by one, 9-8, and Phillips made the Tigers pay on an overpass to tie it at 9-9. A screamer by Phillips from her backrow spot pulled ND within a digit, 16-15. It was Stremick who gave the Irish the lead (18-17) with a monster slam, and Stasiuk came through with a kill to fasten the game at 21-21. A 22-22 draw showed up on the board with Phillips’ converted kill, and then she paired with Sciacca for a block to make it 23-22. Trailing by two, 27-25, Notre Dame called a timeout, returning with a Fesl kill and a Sciacca ace to force a 27-27 tie. Fesl and Stasiuk traded kills to set up game point for the visiting team, which was picked up when Stasiuk fired home a score from the left side.
Though the Irish threatened with several rallies, a four-point lead built by the Tigers (12-8) proved too much for Notre Dame to overcome in game three. Marina Skinder delivered back-to-back aces to give LSU a double-digit lead (21-11). Her team would add two more scores until Stasiuk rained on the drought with a kill, but Notre Dame managed only four more scores until the Tigers reached the 30-point mark.
ND finished the third game with a .022 hitting mark, and LSU posted its highest percentage of the match by swinging at a .366 rate.
Behind by one, sophomore Kim Kristoff (Carmel, Ind./Beirut Jesuit) delivered an ace and Sciacca scored off the slide to put ND on top, 5-4, early in game four. A six-point Tiger lead was trimmed to one (13-12) as Stasiuk led the Irish surge with a pair of kills. Sciacca’s swing caught the block and fell into LSU’s court (15-13), with Stremick keeping the two-point margin with a slam from Tarutis’ dime. Stremick would clog the Tiger attack with a solo block, making it a one-point game (17-16), and added another block to bind the count, 17-17. The block party continued when Phillips’ added a solo stop to put Notre Dame up by one (19-18). Sciacca gave ND another lead (21-20) with a strong conversion on the slide. LSU’s short-lived lead at 22-21 ended with Stasiuk’s kill up the middle. Stremick’s two late kills – with the latter clipping the net and falling dead into Tiger territory – gave Notre Dame a 26-25 lead. That margin was increased to two on a Stasiuk service ace. On the next play, Stasiuk came through with a kill and Phillips added another to set the table for game point. Phillips converted for the score two plays later as the Irish forced a fifth game.
LSU took the first three scores in game five. The Irish got on the board with Washington’s service error and came within two (4-2) on Stasiuk’s kill. A pair of Tiger miscues latched the game at 4-4. The frame was then tied at 6-6, 8-8, and 9-9. Cooper broke loose with a trio of blocks to give LSU a 12-9 edge and a lead it would not to surrender.
The match marked the first time since 1989 that neither team held a national ranking entering the contest.
Conference contests at UConn (Oct. 27) and St. John’s (Oct. 28) headline this weekend’s action for Notre Dame.
–ND–