Sept. 9, 2006
CEDAR FALLS, IOWA- The No. 23 Notre Dame volleyball team (4-3) began the morning by dropping a three gamer to Kansas State (8-1) on the second day of the UNI Invitational on Saturday morning, Sept. 9 at the West Gym in Cedar Fall, Iowa. It was the first ever meeting between the two schools and the scores went 24-30, 30-21, 30-28. It was only the second time over the last two years that Notre Dame has been swept in a match, as the Irish were done in by 38 attack errors and a strong Kansas State frontline.
The first game was evenly matched after the first 10 points with the score tied at five. The Wildcats were controlling the action around the net and went on a 4-0 run spurred by the kill from Sandy Werner to go up 9-5. After a Notre Dame timeout, the Wildcats continued their strong play opening up a seven-point advantage at 15-8. A kill from freshman Megan Fesl (Arlington Heights, Ill./John Hersey) brought the Irish within five at 17-12. Justine Stremick’s (Langdon, N.D./Langdon Area) block and kill on consecutive plays brought Notre Dame within three at 18-15. The margin stayed around three until a service ace from Jenny Jantsch allowed the Wildcats to open up a five point advantage at 26-21. Facing game point, the Irish went on a mini 3-0 run with freshman Christina Kaelin (Louisville, Ky./Assumption) leading the charge with a pair of kills to get to within five at 29-24, but that was as close as the Irish would get as the Wildcats captured the first game 30-24. The Wildcats controlled the net in the first game out blocking the Irish 9.5-3.
The second game was a tight one in the beginning, with the Irish fighting against a Wildcat front line that was controlling the tempo and the net. An ace from sophomore Mallorie Croal (Villa Park, Calif./Golden West) gave the Irish its first lead of the game at 9-8. A mini 3-0 run allowed the Wildcats to take the lead at 15-12. An ace from KSU’s Lesley Townsend extended the advantage to four at 19-15. The Kansas State lead grew to six on the block assist from Megan Kroeker at 24-18. The Wildcats began to pull away on an attacking error from the Irish at 28-20. Kansas State closed out the second game on the kill from Tiffany Johnson for the final margin of 30-21. The Wildcats continued to out hit the Irish in the second game holding a .159 to -.013 hitting-percentage advantage after the first two.
The strong KSU blocking continued in the third game, with a Tiffany Johnson block extending the Wildcat advantage to three at 4-1 to start the game. After the Wildcats had built up a lead as large as five, the Irish stormed back tie the game at eight on the block from freshman Tara Enzweiler (Raleigh, N.C./Cardinal Gibbons). The Irish, now on 6-0 run, extended the lead to 11-8 on kill from junior Adrianna Stasiuk (Park Ridge, Ill./Maine South). The action was now going back and forth, as a Kaelin kill put the Irish up momentarily by two at 22-20. The Wildcats quickly caught up on the block assist from Megan Kroeker to tie the game at 22 all. Consecutive block assists from Stremick and Stasiuk put the Irish up by one at 24-23, only to see the Wildcats rally back to take the lead again on the block from Kroeker and Werner at 26-25. The Wildcats closed out the game and the match on the kill from Jantsch to win 30-28.
Leading the Irish in defeat was Croal with 11 kills. It was Croal’s second time leading the squad in kills. Stremick was the Irish’s bright spot around the net with nine blocks. The Wildcats were lead by the duo of Jantsch and Werner with 11 kills each. Three different KSU volleyball players recorded seven or more blocks led by Kroeker’s 10. The Irish were out hit by the Wildcats .149 to.023 and out blocked 20.5-14.
Next, the Notre Dame Fighting Irish will wrap up play in the UNI Invitational with an 8:30 p.m. nightcap against the host school Northern Iowa. The game will be a television match shown by the Iowa cable station Mediacom.