Sept. 10, 2006
CEDAR FALLS, IOWA- The No. 23 Notre Dame volleyball team (4-4), playing its second game of the day, ended the evening and its tournament with a loss to the host school Northern Iowa (7-4) on the final day of the UNI Invitational on Saturday evening, Sept. 9 at the West Gym in Cedar Fall, Iowa. The scores went as follows 28-30, 30-20, 34-32, 21-30, 11-15. The Irish have now dropped two consecutive matches for the second time this season.
The tempo of the first game was frantic and frequently controlled by the Panthers. Northern Iowa took an early 7-2 advantage keyed by a kill from Trista Humphal. Freshman Megan Fesl’s (Arlington Heights, Ill./John Hersey) back-to-back kills brought the Irish within two at 7-5. The Irish continued to battle and tied the game at 10 all on the kill from Mallorie Croal (Villa Park, Calif./Mater Dei). After some back and forth action the Irish tied the game up again at 17 on back-to-back kills from Christina Kaelin (Louisville, Ky./Assumption). A 4-0 run by the Wildcats again put the score in their favor at 24-20. Junior Adrianna Stasiuk (Park Ridge, Ill./Maine South) led a mini comeback for the Irish reeling off kills on two of three possessions to close the gap to 28-26, but the Panthers hung tough and closed the game for a 30-28 victory. The Irish out hit the Panthers in the first game with a hitting-percentage of .297 to .244.
The Irish in the second game took an 8-4 lead on an early kill from Croal. An ace from Croal extended the lead to six at 10-4. Kaelin’s two kills in three possessions allowed the Irish to open a 12-5 advantage. The offense continued to click as the Irish lead grew to nine on the ace from freshman Serinity Phillips (Valley Center, Calif./Valley Center) at 15-6. Another service ace, this one from senior Danielle Herndon (Plant City, Fla./Durant), increased the Irish advantage to a game best 11, before the Panther rallied to get to within six on the kill from Laura Rowen at 21-15. The Irish closed on a 9-5 run to take the second game 30-20 keyed by the game-ending kill from Kaelin.
Building on the momentum of the second game the Irish continued the offensive barrage with a 4-0 run to start the third game before the first Northern Iowa timeout. Back-to-back blocks from the Panther defense cut the lead to one at 5-4. A 7-0 Panther run gave them the lead at 14-11, before the Irish rallied to tie the match at 16 on the kill from Phillips. Another Phillips kill gave the Irish the lead at 18-16. Phillips continued her strong game with another kill to give the Irish a four-point advantage at 22-19. Kaelin shredded the Northern Iowa attempted block and put the Irish up 24-21 with a kill. The Panthers caught up and we two tied scores and a pair of game points, after the 30 point barrier. The Irish finally pulled away and won the game 34-32 on the bad set from Northern Iowa setter.
The Panther with their backs against the wall, came out strong in the fourth game and built up a 5-1 lead on the kill from Ashten Stelken. UNI continued their strong start as the kill from Rowen put UNI up 9-3. The Panther lead continued to grow and went to nine on the kill from Amy Sampson at 14-5. As much as the Irish tried they could seem to chip the lead into a manageable margin, the closest the Irish could manage was six on the block from Justine Stremick (Langdon, N.D./Langdon Area) at 23-17. The Panthers closed the game on a 7-4 run to win the fourth game 30-21 and set up a pivotal fifth game.
Notre Dame realizing the importance of a strong start in the fifth game did just that, scoring the first four points led by a service ace from junior Ashley Tarutis (Long Beach, Calif./Los Alamitos). After a timeout to regain their composure the Panthers settled down and went on a 6-0 run to take the lead. The Irish tied the game up at six, only to see UNI take the lead again on back-to-back kills from Rowen. The Irish caught up again and tied the game at eight on the kill from freshman Colleen Nolan (Vernon Hill, Ill./Stevenson). After another UNI rally, the Irish tied the game for the third time on the Phillips’ kill at 11. Another UNI run allowed them to open up a two-point advantage at 13-11 and with the game only up to 15, the Irish were running out of time if they intended to make a comeback. UNI stood strong, and after a Notre Dame timeout, they closed the game and match off with a service ace to win the 15-11.
Kaelin led the Irish in losing effort with 20 kills. It was the fifth time this season that Kaelin has registered 20 or more kills in match. Phillips chipped in a career-best 10 kills, Herndon for the eighth time this season led the team in digs with 19. Stasiuk recorded her fifth double of the season with 13 kills and 11 digs. The Panthers were led by Rowen’s 19 kills.
After the match was completed Herndon was award with a position on the UNI All-Tournament squad.
Next, the Notre Dame Fighting Irish will take the week off from matches to practice in preparation for the Sun Devil Volleyball Classic. The tournament hosted by Arizona State will begin on Friday, Sept. 15 against Butler at 5 p.m. MST/PDT.