Oct. 18, 2004
For the second week in a row, Notre Dame volleyball player Adrianna Stasiuk (Park Ridge, Ill./Maine South H.S.) was named the BIG EAST Conference’s Rookie of the Week on Monday. The opposite became the first Irish student-athlete since 1998 to register a triple-double, as she finished with 14 kills, 11 digs, and a collegiate-high 11 blocks in Notre Dame’s five-game victory over Illinois State last Wednesday, the lone Irish match of the week.
In her previous match in the Joyce Center (Sept. 7 vs. Valparaiso), Stasiuk ended up just one assist shy of a triple-double (season-high 16 kills, 15 digs, and nine assists, as well as five blocks and two aces), but against the Redbirds, she left no doubt, clinching the triple-double in the third game. On Wednesday, Stasiuk also had a pair of service aces, including one to end the marathon second game (34-32). She matched her season high with 21.5 points and more than doubled her previous collegiate high in blocks, which was five.
Stasiuk was joined in her triple-double by junior MB Lauren Brewster (Brentwood, Tenn./Brentwood H.S.), who ended up with 17 kills, 13 digs, and 11 blocks. It was just the second time this season that a Division I team had multiple triple-doubles in the same match (Dartmouth’s Kathryn Hirsch and Elise Krieger did it against Army on Sept. 17), but the accomplishment of dual triple-doubles that do not include assists is extremely rare. Since 2002, teams in Division I had featured multiple triple-doubles nine times, but none of the players involved in those sported 10+ blocks, as all of them checked in with double-digit assists. Of all the triple-doubles in Division I in 2004, only three previously had consisted of kills, digs, and blocks. Prior to Wednesday, no Irish player had registered a triple-double since Dec. 4, 1998, when a pair of Notre Dame competitors also accomplished the feat. In that match – a four-game, NCAA first-round win over Eastern Washington – Kristy Kreher, then just a rookie, had 24 kills on .541 hitting to go with 14 digs and 14 assists, while senior Lindsay Treadwell registered 11 kills, 16 digs, and 10 blocks.
The Park Ridge native, who was honored as the league’s top rookie last week after averaging 3.43 kills on .302 hitting to go with 3.29 digs in helping the Irish limit opponents to .166 hitting en route to road wins against Rutgers and Seton Hall, was a key to the resurgence of the Irish block, which ended up registering 25.5 blocks against ISU, including a season-high nine in a single game (the third). She assisted in 11 of those blocks, including four each in games two and three, to share match-high honors. She was one of four players to register 10+ blocks in the match, as well as part of a quartet to have 11 or more digs, playing a key role in Notre Dame’s defensive performance that limited the Redbirds to a .163 attack percentage for the match. Illinois State did not hit better than .205 in any game and managed just eight kills and six errors in the decisive fifth game for an .087 mark.
Stasiuk, formerly a four-time All-American and six-time national champion for the vaunted Chicago-area Sports Performance Volleyball Club, has been an immediate contributor for the Irish, starting every match at opposite. One of the top all-around players on the team, she ranks among the top three Notre Dame players in six different categories. Stasiuk, who boasts a powerful jump serve, shares the team lead in service aces, with an average of 0.36 per game (20 in 56 games) that ranks seventh in the BIG EAST leaders. She is second on the Irish in digs (160/2.91) and third in kills (138/2.51), points (186/3.38), blocks (53/0.96), and assists (38/0.69).
She has contributed 11+ digs 10 times and 12 or more kills on six occasions, and her collegiate debut saw Stasiuk become the first Notre Dame player in nearly three years to serve up five aces in a match. The first-ever all-state player for Maine South High School has been Notre Dame’s team leader in aces four times and has twice been tops in hitting percentage, while leading the team once in digs (12 vs. #2 Nebraska on Sept. 3). Stasiuk has been Notre Dame’s top player in fifth games this season, as she is hitting .438 in four decisive stanzas, averaging 2.50 kills per game. In Notre Dame’s win against Fresno State, she notched three kills on four errorless swings in the final frame.
In three BIG EAST matches, Stasiuk is averaging 3.00 kills on a .268 attack percentage to go with 3.50 digs, 1.00 blocks, and 0.40 aces per game (tied for eighth in the league leaders).
With the award, Stasiuk has put herself into early position to be a major contender for BIG EAST Rookie of the Year, as only one other player in the conference – Pittsburgh outside hitter Diana Andreyko – has won the weekly honor multiple times in 2004.
Stasiuk, who was named to Volleyball magazine’s elite “Fab 50” list of the top prep players in the nation last year, is the first Notre Dame player ever to win the BIG EAST rookie accolade twice in as many weeks, and she is the first player from any school to win back-to-back honors since Miami setter Jill Robinson won it in the final two weeks heading up to the BIG EAST tournament last year (Nov. 10 & 17). Only two other Notre Dame players have ever won the BIG EAST’s Rookie-of-the-Week award on multiple occasions, as current junior Lauren Kelbley (Bascom, Ohio/Hopewell-Loudon H.S.) did so in 2002 en route to being tabbed the conference (and AVCA Northeast Region) rookie of the year, and Mary Leffers was twice honored in 1996.
Preseason league player of the year Megan Miller, a senior middle hitter for the University of Pittsburgh, was named player of the week for third time this season by the conference on Monday.
Stasiuk and Notre Dame, on fall break this week, will travel to Utah for a pair of tough matches. The Irish, who have won four in a row, will first try to snap the 14th-ranked University of Utah’s (15-2) school-record 12-match winning streak on Tuesday at 7 p.m. (MDT) before taking on perennial power Brigham Young (10-8) on Wednesday at the same time. Live internet audio and video of the contest against the Utes will be available via www.utahutes.com, while the matchup with the Cougars will be televised live by BYU Television, which is available on Dish Network (channel 9403) and DirecTV PLUS (channel 374), as well as in cable packages in various markets (see http://byutv.org/getbyutv/usmap.asp to check availability in your area). In addition, www.byucougars.com will provide a live webcast, featuring real-time statistics, on Wednesday.