Oct. 7, 2011
NOTRE DAME, Ind. – The Notre Dame volleyball team ends its four-game homestand by hitting the road for the first time in over two weeks when it travels to Pittsburgh (Oct. 8) and West Virginia (Oct. 9) this weekend.
With a 1-3 record in BIG EAST Conference play this season, the Irish look to help even things out against a Pittsburgh squad that Notre Dame has defeated in each of the last two meetings. Notre Dame has won 12 straight over the Mountaineers.
Live stats for each match will be available at UND.com
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Notre Dame Fighting Irish (8-6 overall – 1-3 BIG EAST)
[und.com – bigeast.org]
Pittsburgh Panthers (10-6 overall – 2-0 BIG EAST)
Saturday, Oct. 8 – 2:00 p.m. (ET)
[pittsburghpanthers.com – bigeast.org]
Series history: Notre Dame leads, 20-9 (11-5 BIG EAST)
Series streak: Notre Dame, W2
First meeting: 11.3.84 – Pittsburgh, 3-0
Last meeting: 9.26.10 – Notre Dame, 3-0
West Virginia Mountaineers (16-2 overall – 15-0 BIG EAST)
Sunday, Oct. 9 – 1:00 p.m. (ET)
[msnsportsnet.com – bigeast.org]
Series history: Notre Dame leads, 16-2 (15-1 BIG EAST)
Series streak: Notre Dame, W12
First meeting: 12.5.91 – West Virginia, 3-2
Last meeting: 9.24.10 – Notre Dame, 3-0
Following the Irish …
Live stats: UND.com
Facebook: facebook.com/NotreDameAthletics, facebook.com/NDvolleyball
Twitter: @UND_com, @NDvolleyball, @NDcoachBrown, @NDsidJorge
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Bump, Set, Spike …
– The Irish dropped each of their two matches last weekend while playing host to Cincinnati and Louisville … with its league record at 1-3, Notre Dame has fallen under the .500 mark for the first time since joining the BIG EAST in 1995 (save for a loss to start BIG EAST play at Pittsburgh in 2007) … each of Notre Dame’s last three losses have come in the 3-1 variety … three of the four sets in the match against Cincinnati were decided by three or fewer points, with Notre Dame having set-point in the first two frames before Cincinnati went on a pair of 3-0 runs to win each stanza … senior Kristen Dealy had 11 kills (.257) and 14 digs with sophomore Sammie Brown adding 35 assists and 14 digs against the Bearcats … no one covered as much ground as senior Frenchy Silva in that contest, who was good for a game-high 24 scoops for her second straight 20+ dig performance … sophomore Andrea McHugh led the Irish with 17 kills and freshman Jeni Houser posted 13 more (.333) with four blocks.
– Notre Dame went 1-1 with a loss to Villanova after sweeping Georgetown to open BIG EAST play (Sept. 24-25) … junior Hilary Eppink posted a team-high 10 kills on a .556 clip against the Hoyas … Eppink did not commit an error on 18 swings … Georgetown hit a paltry .009 with a -.030 average in the first set while slugging at a -.118 rate to end the contest … Notre Dame hit .469 in the opener, its best hitting period of the contest … Notre Dame stumbled out of the gate and never fully recovered against Villanova … hitting .094 with 11 service errors, Notre Dame fell to the Wildcats, 3-1, during the nationally televised contest on ESPNU with 1,337 fans on hand to watch at Purcell Pavilion … Notre Dame won the first 16 matches of the all-time series with Villanova but has since dropped four of the last six meetings … the two teams combined for 23 service errors and Notre Dame failed to record an ace for the first time since facing Northern Iowa on Nov. 7, 2010 … senior Kristen Dealy (25) and Frenchy Silva (22) each eclipsed the 20-dig plateau.
– One day after redeeming a 2010 loss to Western Michigan, Notre Dame swept host Wisconsin to claim the team title at the InnTowner Invitational … senior Kristen Dealy earned MVP honors with senior Frenchy Silva and junior Hilary Eppink earning all-tournament nods … the win on Wisconsin’s home floor was the first ever for the Irish, also giving Notre Dame its first back-to-back wins over the Badgers in the history of the 10-match series.
– Notre Dame’s 1,000-1,000 club inducted a new member in senior Kristen Dealy during a Sept. 16 match against Western Michigan … now with more than 1,000 career kills and 1,000 digs, Dealy is the eighth Irish player ever to join the club and the first since Adrianna Stasiuk did so in 2007.
– Freshman Jeni Houser was named MVP of the Golden Dome Invitational after leading all players at the four-team event in hitting (.348), kills/set (3.82) and points/set (4.36) … Houser matched a career-high with 19 kills against Portland (Sept. 10) as Notre Dame went 2-1 on the weekend.
– Freshman Toni Alugbue and sophomore Andrea McHugh were named to the Golden Dome Invitational all-tournament team … Alugbue averaged 1.36 blocks/set on the weekend and McHugh shelved a pair of double-doubles and dropped four aces on Portland (Sept. 10).
– Sophomore Sammie Brown became the 11th player in Notre Dame history to record at least 1,000 assists in a career, doing so with a 32-assist effort against Portland (Sept. 10).
– Senior Frenchy Silva, junior Hilary Eppink and sophomore Andrea McHugh were each named to the Shamrock Invitational All-Tournament team … in fact, McHugh was named the tournament’s MVP one day prior to shelving Player of the Week honors from the BIG EAST Conference … McHugh led the Irish with 58 kills in three tournament matches and posted a career-best 25 kills to go along with 13 digs against Idaho.
– Notre Dame was picked to finish second in league play according to the BIG EAST Preseason Coaches Poll … the Irish received one first-place vote.
– One day after redeeming a 2010 loss to Western Michigan, Notre Dame swept host Wisconsin to claim the team title at the InnTowner Invitational … senior Kristen Dealy earned MVP honors with senior Frenchy Silva and junior Hilary Eppink earning all-tournament nods … the win on Wisconsin’s home floor was the first ever for the Irish, also giving Notre Dame its first back-to-back wins over the Badgers in the history of the 10-match series.
– Senior Kristen Dealy earned MVP honors at the InnTowner Invite after a strong showing across the board with 3.00 kills/set, 4.29 digs/set and 3.57 points/set.
– Notre Dame’s 1,000-1,000 club inducted a new member in senior Kristen Dealy during a Sept. 16 match against Western Michigan … now with more than 1,000 career kills and 1,000 digs, Dealy is the eighth Irish player ever to join the club and the first since Adrianna Stasiuk did so in 2007.
– Notre Dame is 15-1 all-time in BIG EAST regular-season openers, with the lone loss coming at Pittsburgh to begin the 2007 league slate … all said and done, the Irish are 172-25 (.873) in regular-season play since joining the BIG EAST, including a home record of 95-8 (.922).
– Freshman Jeni Houser was named MVP of the Golden Dome Invitational after leading all players at the four-team event in hitting (.348), kills/set (3.82) and points/set (4.36) … Houser matched a career-high with 19 kills against Portland (Sept. 10) as Notre Dame went 2-1 on the weekend.
– Freshman Toni Alugbue and sophomore Andrea McHugh were named to the Golden Dome Invitational all-tournament team … Alugbue averaged 1.36 blocks/set on the weekend and McHugh shelved a pair of double-doubles and dropped four aces on Portland (Sept. 10).
– A highly efficient and balanced offensive output from Notre Dame helped produce a 3-0 win over visiting Lipscomb (Sept. 9) as the Irish hit .549 as a squad, committing just two errors on 91 swings with 52 kills … with the effort from above the net, Notre Dame set a program record for hitting pct. in a three-set match … the previous best (.539) was set against Marquette in 1986 … it was also the first time the Irish hit over .500 in a contest since a 3-0 win versus DePaul in 2005 … even more, Notre Dame’s side-out pct. on the evening was .840, which included a 12-for-12 effort in the first set.
– Sophomore Sammie Brown became the 11th player in Notre Dame history to record at least 1,000 assists in a career, doing so with a 32-assist effort against Portland (Sept. 10).
– Notre Dame dropped each of its two matches at the Stanford Invitational (Sept. 2-3), falling to both the host Cardinal and St. Mary’s (Calif.).
– Freshman Jeni Houser pounded No. 6 Stanford for a team- and career-high 19 kills … the slugger averaged 3.57 kills/set in the two matches on the West Coast to earn a spot on the Stanford Invitational All-Tournament team.
– Notre Dame opened the season with three wins at the Shamrock Invitational (Aug. 26-28) for its best start to a campaign since 2006 … Notre Dame dropped the second set in each of its 3-1 wins over Eastern Michigan, Idaho and Butler … the victory over Butler was the program’s 300th home win … Notre Dame is 302-95 (.760) all-time on its home floor.
– Senior Frenchy Silva, junior Hilary Eppink and sophomore Andrea McHugh were each named to the Shamrock Invitational All-Tournament team … in fact, McHugh was named the tournament’s MVP one day prior to shelving Player of the Week honors from the BIG EAST Conference … McHugh led the Irish with 58 kills in three tournament matches and posted a career-best 25 kills to go along with 13 digs against Idaho … McHugh averaged 4.83 kills and 3.92 digs/set while recording double-digit kills in all three weekend matches.
– A 22-dig performance against Butler (Aug. 28) put senior Frenchy Silva over the 1,000-mark for her career … what’s more, Silva’s 3.36 digs/set average is fourth all-time, and senior Kristen Dealy’s 3.06 digs/set clip ranks fifth … that makes the duo the only classmates ever to rank among the top 10 in digs/set.
– With an Aug. 26 win over Eastern Michigan to begin the 2011 campaign, Notre Dame is 25-7 (20-1 under head coach Debbie Brown) in home openers.
– Notre Dame was picked to finish second in league play according to the BIG EAST Preseason Coaches Poll … the Irish received one first-place vote.
– Co-captains for the 2011 season are seniors Kristen Dealy and Frenchy Silva.
– Senior Kristen Dealy was a preseason all-BIG EAST choice along with sophomore Andrea McHugh.
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