Jan. 9, 2004
NOTRE DAME, Ind. – The University of Notre Dame volleyball team ranked 16th in the nation in average home attendance in 2003, the highest-ever finish for the Irish, it was announced recently. Notre Dame set season attendance records with an average of 1,576 and a total of 23,643 fans — the 14th-highest sum in Division I.
Notre Dame’s match against Virginia Tech on Nov. 7, which attracted 8,643 fans, finished as the contest with the seventh-largest crowd in Division I volleyball in ’03. The match was played directly before a football pep rally and featured the largest crowd for a volleyball match in the 24-year history of the program.
The Irish also set a program record with the largest crowd for a volleyball match not played before a football pep rally — 2,715 in the Nov. 9 contest vs. Miami televised live on College Sports Television (CSTV).
Seven of Notre Dame’s 15 home matches — including each of the last five — featured crowds of more than 1,000, and the Irish averaged 1,071 fans per match excluding the Virginia Tech contest. When playing on the road, the Irish played in front of crowds averaging just over half the size of those for their matches in the Joyce Center (809 average in 15 matches).
Crowds for Irish volleyball increased late in the season, as eight of the final 10 matches featured attendances of 1,000 or more and six had crowds of greater than 1,450. From Nov. 2 until the end of the season, Notre Dame played in front of an average of 2,166 fans per match.
Attendance at Irish home matches has spiked over the past two seasons. In 2002, Notre Dame averaged 1,064 fans per match, the top mark in the program’s history up to that point. The Irish ranked 25th in the NCAA attendance leaders, marking their first appearance on that list. Notre Dame also set the single-match attendance mark with a crowd of 3,351 watching the Irish play Providence immediately before a football pep rally.
Notre Dame played matches in six of the top 16 venues in attendance in ’03, having matches at Northern Iowa (finished 9th; 1,787 avg. attendance), Stanford (10th; 1,782), North Carolina (11th; 1,713), Illinois in the NCAA tournament (14th; 1,598), Texas in the Longhorn Classic (15th; 1,589), and in the Joyce Center. A total of seven Irish opponents finished in the national top 25 in attendance, with Eastern Washington (13th; 1,614), Purdue (20th; 1,534), and Illinois State (24th; 1,428) also listed. Notre Dame was the only BIG EAST Conference team and the only Northeast Region squad to average more than 700 fans per match. Hawaii was the nation’s attendance leader, attracting an average of 7,486 per contest (172,178 in 23 matches). A full list of programs averaging 1,000 or more in 2003 can be found at http://uwbadgers.com/sport_news/vb/headlines/full_story.aspx?story_id=2003_12_15_10_54_17_vb.
Volleyball ranks fifth among the 26 Irish varsity sports in attendance, including second behind basketball on the women’s side. The only Notre Dame teams with higher average home attendance are football (80,795 avg. in ’03), men’s basketball (9,800 through eight games in 2003-04), women’s basketball (6,138 through five games in 2003-04), and hockey (2,174 through nine games in 2003-04).
Notre Dame finished the season with a 23-7 record, earning a share of its eighth BIG EAST regular-season title in nine seasons in the league as well as its 12th consecutive NCAA Championship berth. The Irish, who finished 24th in the AVCA Coaches’ Top 25, fell in the first round of the NCAA tournament to #19 Louisville. Notre Dame opened 21-2, the second-best start in school history, and put together a 14-match winning streak – the second-longest in the program’s history – while peaking in the national rankings at No. 12, the highest listing for the Irish since 1996. Four Notre Dame players were named honorable mention All-America.