Aug. 3, 2018
By Robby Hamman
NOTRE DAME, Ind. – For the second straight season Notre Dame has been selected fourth in the Atlantic Coast Conference volleyball preseason poll, the conference office announced on Friday. The Irish placed two players on the Preseason All-ACC Team in senior Ryann DeJarld and Jemma Yeadon.
The Fighting Irish received 137 points in balloting among the ACC’s 15 head coaches. Pittsburgh topped the poll with 196 points. Louisville (180) was slotted second, with Florida State (171) third and Duke (121) fifth.
DeJarld cemented her status as one of the top liberos in the country in her junior campaign, shattering the program record for digs in a season with 747, which ranked fourth in the nation. The libero finished the 2017 season averaging an astounding 6.12 digs per set. DeJarld has also excelled in the service game, hammering out 41 aces, the second most on the team this season.
DeJarld also set the all-time Notre Dame program record for career digs this season, accumulating 1,808 digs in just three seasons of play. The Chicago native ranks fifth for all active players in Division I in career digs per set with a mark of 5.06.
Yeadon carried much of the load in the attack for the Irish in her sophomore season. The outside hitter averaged a team-high 3.91 kills per set to total 453 in 2017, which rank sixth in program history for kills in a single season. Yeadon also added 315 digs, 70 blocks and 29 aces.
Yeadon was one of Notre Dame’s most consitent hitters all season, posting double-digit kills in 26-of-30 matches she played in during the year. The Mercer Island, Washington, native posted a career-high 27 kills against Syracuse (11/22), the most any Notre Dame student-athlete logged in a match since the 2012 season.
DeJarld, Yeadon and the Irish open the 2018 regular season with the Golden Dome Invitational on August 24 and 25. Notre Dame welcomes Weber State at 7 p.m. on August 24 and then will host Toledo and Northern Kentucky on August 25. All three matches will be played in Purcell Pavilion.
The Irish 2018 schedule features 14 home matches, nine of which are conference matches. Notre Dame is coming off a 2017 season in which the Irish earned their first NCAA Championships berth since the 2012 season this year and finished with a record of 22-10. Notre Dame has now recorded back-to-back 20-plus win seasons for the first time since 2004 and 2005.
ACC VOLLEYBALL COACHES POLL
TEAM STANDINGS
- Pitt (196 points)
- Louisville (180 points)
- Florida State (171 points)
- Notre Dame (137 points)
- Duke (134 points)
- North Carolina (121 points)
- Miami (117 points)
- NC State (117 points)
- Syracuse (110 points)
- Georgia Tech (68 points)
- Virginia Tech (55 points)
- Clemson (54 points)
- Wake Forest (51 points)
- Virginia (37 points)
- Boston College (27 points)
PRESEASON ALL-ACC TEAM
Kaylin Korte, Sr., OH/RS, Clemson
Leah Meyer, Jr., MB, Duke
Payton Caffrey, Jr., OH, Florida State
Taryn Knuth, So., MB, Florida State
Jasmine Bennett, Sr., MB, Louisville
Melanie McHenry, Jr., OH, Louisville
Wilma Rivera, Sr., S, Louisville
Molly Sauer, Sr., L, Louisville
Haley Templeton, R-Sr., S, Miami
Melissa Evans, So., OPP, NC State
Kylie Pickrell, Sr., S, NC State
Ryann DeJarld, Sr., L, Notre Dame
Jemma Yeadon, Jr., OH, Notre Dame
Kamalani Akeo, Sr., S, Pitt
Nika Markovic, Jr., RS, Pitt
Stephanie Williams, R-Jr., OH, Pitt
Santita Ebangwese, Sr., MB, Syracuse
Jaila Tolbert, Sr., RS, Virginia Tech
–ND–
Robby Hamman joined Fighting Irish Media as athletics communications assistant director in September 2016, coordinating efforts for the volleyball and men’s lacrosse program. Hamman is a 2010 graduate of Bethel College, where he earned bachelor’s degrees in sport management and business administration, and earned his master’s degree in business administration from Defiance College in 2013.