Sept. 22, 2007
Final Stats
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PITTSBURGH, Pa. – The Notre Dame volleyball team combined to score 82 points with Pittsburgh in the fourth game of its 3-1 (33-31, 32-30, 23-30, 42-40) loss to the Panthers on Saturday at the Fitzgerald Field House in a match that was also both team’s BIG EAST Conference opener.
There were 27 ties and 15 lead changes in the elongated period, and senior Adrianna Stasiuk (Park Ridge, Ill./Maine South) contributed nine of her 14 kills in the game. In fact, Stasiuk did not record a kill until the third game of the match, starting the contest at the libero position.
The Irish (4-7 overall, 0-1 BIG EAST) set a school record for most points in a four-game match (131), and tied the program’s mark for the fourth-highest point total in an affair of any length. Their 40 points in game four was the most ever won in a single game, eclipsing the previous high of 37 in game one of a 3-1 victory over Eastern Washington in 2003.
Next up for Notre Dame is a trip to Morgantown, W.Va., to challenge the Mountaineers on Sunday (Sept. 23) at 2 p.m. (ET).
Pitt’s Kelly Campbell had a match-high 30 kills and Diana Andreyko finished with 21, while freshman Kellie Sciacca (Monument, Colo./Lewis-Palmer) and sophomore Serinity Phillips (Valley Center, Calif./Valley Center) each had 14. Stasiuk tied a personal-high for the season with 21 digs. Senior setter Ashley Tarutis (Long Beach, Calif./Los Alamitos) led the team with 45 assists and sophomore Jamel Nicholas (Gibsonia, Pa./Pine-Richland) contributed 21.
Notre Dame was behind 10-9 in game four when Fesl and Sciacca denied access to Andreyko’s shot and tied the game. Junior Justine Stremick (Langdon, N.D./Langdon Area) soon let loose on three kills in a row to put Notre Dame in front, 13-12. After losing its lead midway through the frame, Stasiuk was successful on her second attack of an extended play to bring the Irish within one, 21-20. She then recorded a solo block to tie the game (21-21) and added a kill to tie it again at 23-23. Three more kills from Stasiuk expanded the Irish lead to four, 28-24, when Pitt (7-7 overall, 1-0 BIG EAST) staged a rally to tie the game, 29-29. The teams blended the score 11 more times after that point until Campbell’s eleventh kill of the set was followed by a combo block by Andreyko and Jessica Moses to seal the deal for the Panthers.
Sciacca had three kills and an ace as the Irish raced out to a 9-2 lead in game one. Fesl converted a backrow attack and sophomore Kim Kristoff (Carmel, Ind./Brebeuf Jesuit) shot down a kill from a Nicholas dish to put ND up 11-5. Junior Mallorie Croal (Villa Park, Calif./Mater Dei) connected on a pair of kills to double Pitt’s total, 16-8. The Panthers rattled off 10-straight points to hold an 18-16 lead, and an attack error by Meagan Dooley broke ND’s scoring drought. One of Croal’s five kills in the game gave ND another lead at 19-18, and then Stremick’s kill on the slide put her team ahead by a deuce. Sciacca kept the margin at two with a kill off a quick set from Tarutis (28-26). Campbell – who had a game-high seven kills – made the score 29-29, and the squads managed to tie the game at 30-30 and 31-31 before the Panthers claimed the win.
Four Irish players helped draw ties early in game two, as Croal (5-5), Kristoff (6-6), Fesl (7-7), and Sciacca (9-9) all had kills to keep their team in the hunt. ND maintained its three-point pillow when Stremick won a joust at the net (17-14) and recorded a solo block (24-21). Pitt would eventually take the lead on Stephanie Ross’ kill at 26-25 before Croal answered with a liner of her own. Three kills by Sciacca over the final stretch was not enough for ND to overcome the Panthers’ belated surge.
ND came out of the intermission with a 6-1 spurt as they would swing .326 in the period behind five kills by Stasiuk, who also had 10 digs over the stretch. Stasiuk gave the Fighting Irish a 10-point lead (26-16) when she drilled a bullet dead in the corner, and a pair of tips by Tarutis dropped late in the frame to give Notre Dame its lone game win.
The match will be televised on College Sports Television (CSTV) on Monday, Sept. 24, at 8 p.m. (ET).
–ND–