Sept. 3, 2006
NOTRE DAME, IND.- The No. 21 Notre Dame volleyball team (3-1) fought and scrapped, but fell short in its attempt to upset #13 Missouri (6-1) on the second day of the Shamrock Invitational. The Irish had a 2-1 lead in games played at one point, but could not hold off a hard charging Tigers team, who took the last two games to win the CSTV taped delayed match. The match will air on Sunday evening, Sept 3 at 6 p.m. locally on CSTV. This was only the fifth match Notre Dame has dropped the last two seasons and all have come in emotionally draining five game fashion. In its first match of the afternoon, Notre Dame outlasted Idaho (0-6) to win in four games by the scores of 30-21, 30-25, 27-30, 30-15.
The Irish took the tight first game from Missouri by the score of 30-28. The Irish took an earlier lead at 4-1 on the kill from Christina Kaelin (Louisville, Ky./Assumption)/ Missouri would answer with a 9-5 run to take the lead on the kill from Jessica Vander Kooi. The teams went back and forth for the remainder of the game until a four-point advantage was opened on a Mallorie Croal (Villa Park, Calif./Mater Dei) kill. Again the Tigers would rally as Vander Kooi kill brought them to with one at 29-28, but Kaelin finished the game with a kill to give the Fighting Irish the first game. Game two went much the same way and wasn’t ultimately decided until consecutive Irish attack errors with a tied game at 28 all, ended the game in Missouri’s favor. The third game was another tight one. Notre Dame opened up its largest lead of the game at five on another Kaelin kill at 27-22. A Tiger’s attack error ended the game and gave the Irish the advantage in games at 2-1.
The Tigers came out ready to play in the fourth game and opened up a 22-15 lead on the Irish. Notre Dame stormed back to get within four on Croal’s back-to-back kills. Kaelin’s three kills in next six possessions got the Irish within three at 29-26 but a Vander Kooi kill ended the match and set up the pivotal game five.
The Tigers built on the momentum fourth game with 9-3 run to start the fifth game highlighted by two kills from Nicole Wilson. The Irish would not go down without a fight as a Kaelin kill got the Notre Dame to within one at 13-12, but the Tigers rallied behind Vander Kooi’s two kills in three possession to take the game and the match by the final margin of 15-13. Vander Kooi was named the MVP of the Shamrock Invitational following the unofficial championship game between the only two undefeated teams in the tournament.
The Irish were paced for the fourth time this season by Kaelin. She tied her career-high with 24. Croal and sophomore Justine Stremick (Langdon, N.D./Langdon) tallied 14 kills each in defeat. Junior Adrianna Stasiuk (Park Ridge, Ill./Maine South) had her fourth double-double of the season with 11 kills and 13 digs. Missouri was led to victory by Jessica Vander Kooi who totaled 30 kills, 25 digs and eight blocks in the five game set.
The first match of the afternoon saw the Irish jump out to two games lead and hold a four-point advantage in the third game only to see the Vandals rally to take the third game. After the fourth game began as a back and forth affair, things turned in Notre Dame’s favor at 22-11 on kills from Stremick and Croal on back-to-back plays. A kill from freshman Serinity Phillips (Valley Center, Calif./Valley Center) ended the game and match for the Irish.
Following the action on the court besides Vander Kooi being named MVP of the tournament, the Irish had two players selected to the All-Tournament Team (Kaelin and Stremick). Also named to the All-Tournament squad was Idaho’s Erin Curtis, Valparaiso’s Brittany Marks and Missouri’s Lei Wang and Tatum Ailes.
In action through the tournament on the second day, Missouri defeat Valparaiso 3-1 and Valparaiso defeated Idaho 3-2.
The Notre Dame Fighting Irish will next take the court on Sunday, September 3 with a 2 p.m. match against No. 6 Santa Clara at the Joyce Center. It will Notre Dame’s last home match for nearly a month before the Fighting Irish take to the road participate in a pair of tournaments (UNI Invitational and Sun Devil Volleyball Classic) on back-to-back weekends and play their first three matches of the BIG EAST schedule on the East Coast.
— ND —