Sept. 10, 2005
SAN ANTONIO, Texas – Senior OH Lauren Kelbley (Bascom, Ohio/Hopewell-Loudon H.S.) had 25 kills to lead the 19th-ranked University of Notre Dame women’s volleyball team, as it knocked off #8 USC (2-3) in four games (23-30, 32-30, 30-26, 30-27) Friday evening at the UTSA Dome Rally in the Alamodome. The Irish played tough at the end of games, rallying for wins after being down by five or more points on two occasions, in defeating the Women of Troy – the former team of head coach Debbie Brown – for just the second time ever. Only twice in program history has Notre Dame – which is 4-0 for the first time since 1995 – ever beaten a higher-ranked team and not at all since `93.
Kelbley led all players in both kills and points (career-high 29) and matched her career high in the former (first done last season at Seton Hall), while hitting .273. She was a consistent offensive producer for the Irish, posting at least five kills in every game and converting on match point to clinch the triumph.
The Irish trailed by six points on four occasions in game two – including at 22-16 – before rallying. ND was then down 29-27, but saved a pair of match points en route to the victory. In game three, the Irish trailed by eight points early (12-4), but came back and ended the game on a 6-2 run for a four-point victory. Notre Dame was down by two (17-15) midway through the fourth game before taking control of it.
Senior MB Lauren Brewster (Brentwood, Tenn./Brentwood H.S.) finished with 17 kills and led all players with six blocks (two solo). Another senior, OH Meg Henican, continued her strong front-row play by cranking 10 kills, while making only a single error for a .300 hitting mark, a career-best in a four-game match. She also posted four blocks, including a solo one to end the third game. Henican had 12 digs for her sixth career double-double (and second in a row). She has had double-digit digs in 32 consecutive matches.
Friday marked the return of one of Notre Dame’s starters, sophomore Adrianna Stasiuk (Park Ridge, Ill./Maine South H.S.), who started every match in 2004 at opposite, but missed the first three of this campaign following an offseason rib injury. She played libero for the first time in her career against the Women of Troy and responded with a career-high 29 digs, 11 more than her previous career best (18 vs. Connecticut on Nov. 5, 2004). It was the most by any Irish player since Henican posted a school-record 37 on Oct. 10, 2004, at Seton Hall. Stasiuk also did not make a reception error.
Freshman OH Mallorie Croal (Villa Park, Calif./Mater Dei H.S.), who moved into the lineup last weekend due to Irish injuries and earned a spot starting for the now-healthy ND team, finished with nine kills and 16 digs to go with a pair of blocks and a service ace.
Sophomore setter Ashley Tarutis (Long Beach, Calif./Los Alamitos H.S.), who now holds a 24-8 (.750) career record as a starter including 3-1 against ranked teams, had 56 assists – a career high for a four-game match (previous best was 53 vs. Boston College in the ’04 BIG EAST semifinals) – but saw her offense hit just .189. She now has played the entire match on four occasions in her collegiate career, and those have seen ND defeat #8 USC, #11 Texas, and Michigan, and lose in five games against #2 Nebraska.
The only two all-time Irish victories over higher-ranked teams came more than a decade ago. The first was a four-game upset of #7 Kentucky on the road in 1988 and the second was a 3-1 triumph vs. #3 Nebraska in the 1993 Golden Dome Invitational in the Joyce Center. ND also topped an eighth-ranked Huskers team in the ’93 NCAAs at home. Friday marked the top Irish victory ever on a neutral court.
The Irish were strong again from the service line, registering eight aces and nine service errors. Cooper and Kelbley – who served up a key nine-point run in game three – both had a trio of aces, with Cooper not making an error.
After knocking off 11th-ranked Texas last weekend at home, ND now has a pair of highly-ranked victories already this season. This year’s squad is just the second Irish team (also the ’93 unit) ever to notch multiple victories against top-11 teams.
Notre Dame’s only prior victory against the Trojans came in a four-game match in 1995 in the Joyce Center.
Brown earned her fifth career coaching victory against the Women of Troy, winners of six national titles. The then-Debbie Landreth was a standout for USC in 1976 and ’77, leading the Trojans to a 72-1 record and a pair of national championships before leaving to train full-time with the U.S. national team. She was a first-team All-America outside hitter in both of her collegiate seasons and won the Mikasa Award twice as the top all-around player in college volleyball. Notre Dame is 2-4 all-time against USC, 2-3 with Brown on the sidelines.
The Irish have now won seven in a row on neutral courts, following a 6-0 campaign in 2004. The last ND defeat at a neutral site was a loss to Louisville in the 2003 NCAA tournament in Urbana, Ill.
Southern California, which had more kills and digs than ND and also hit for a higher percentage, was led by senior OH Staci Venski, who notched 20 kills and five blocks. Defensively, junior libero Debora Seilhamer scrambled for 36 digs, while sophomore OH Diane Copenhagen added 15 to go with 16 kills. Sophomore MB Katelyn Bishop had 11 kills and 13 digs, while senior setter Nena Siljegovic had 49 assists and led USC to a .200 hitting mark.
After splitting the first 10 points of the match, the Women of Troy won five straight to go up 10-5 and were able to hold onto that advantage the rest of the way. Siljegovic set USC to 17 kills on a .382 hitting mark in the game, with Venski contributing six kills on nine swings and both Bishop and Copenhagen adding four. The Women of Troy held Notre Dame to just 11 kills and 10 errors for a .026 attack percentage, though Kelbley contributed six kills.
Following four early ties, USC again went on a run in game two, opening up another 10-5 edge. After trailing 22-16, Notre Dame made a run by first winning five straight points and then finally going ahead 26-24 on a solo block and kill by Croal. But that advantage was short lived, as S.C. responded by winning four consecutive points to seize control again. Trailing 29-27, ND got back-to-back kills from Kelbley to stay alive. Cooper and Henican took over from there, first combining for a block that gave the Irish a game point (erased by a kill from Venski) and then handing ND the game with a kill by Cooper and a solo block from the 5-10 Henican. It was the first multiple-point lead for the Irish in the match. USC had 20 kills in the game, but hit just .177, while Kelbley accounted for seven kills and Stasiuk had eight digs for ND.
USC began the third game by jumping out to a 12-4 advantage, but Notre Dame got a kill from Kelbley and then used her strong serving to run off nine straight points to take the lead and force an S.C. timeout. The first eight points of that run all came on kills, blocks, or aces (a pair by Kelbley) by the Irish. The middle of the game was a see-saw affair, as the score was tied 12 times before Notre Dame ended it on a 6-2 run, including three kills from Kelbley on the last four points. The Irish finished with 19 kills in the game, as well as 23 digs, including eight by Stasiuk.
The back-and-forth play carried over to the fourth game, as the teams were tied 15 times before either squad reached 20 points. Notre Dame then used a 6-1 run to go up 25-20 and take control. The Irish finally converted on their third match point, with Kelbley’s 25th kill ending the affair.
This weekend marks the first-ever trip for Notre Dame volleyball to San Antonio. On Friday, the Irish spent time at Kelly Air Force base visiting with Hurricane Katrina evacuees.
Notre Dame will have a quick turnaround, as it continues action in the UTSA Dome Rally, taking on Oklahoma for the first time since 1995 at 1:30 p.m. (CDT) on Saturday.
#8 Southern California (2-3) 30-30-26-27#19 Notre Dame (4-0) 23-32-30-30
Kills: USC 68 (Venski 20), ND 66 (Kelbley 25)Attack Pct.: USC .200 (Tennant .304), ND .189 (Henican .300)Assists: USC 61 (Siljegovic 49), ND 61 (Tarutis 56)Service Aces-Errors: USC 5-9 (five players, 1), ND 8-9 (Kelbley & Cooper, 3)Digs: USC 90 (Seilhamer 36), ND 83 (Stasiuk 29)Blocks: USC 9 (Venski 5), ND 12 (Brewster 6)Points: USC 82 (Venski 23.5), ND 86 (Kelbley 29)Attendance: 1,031