Sophomore Ashley Tarutis, who was named to the all-tournament team, set Notre Dame to a pair of victories in The Inn at Saint Mary's Shamrock Invitational, which served as an impetus to entering the AVCA poll.

Notre Dame Vaults Into AVCA National Rankings At 19th

Sept. 5, 2005

On the strength of an upset of then-#11 Texas, the University of Notre Dame women’s volleyball team vaulted into the latest edition of the CSTV/AVCA Division I Coaches Top 25, released on Monday, coming in 19th. It was the second-largest move upwards ever for the Irish, who have now appeared in the poll in 13 of the last 14 seasons. Notre Dame was the second team receiving votes outside of the top 25 in the preseason edition.

The Irish won a pair of five-game matches over the weekend, topping the Longhorns on Saturday and Arizona State the day after to claim the championship of The Inn at Saint Mary’s Shamrock Invitational. Including a season-opening sweep of Michigan – which reached the round of 32 in last year’s NCAA tournament – Notre Dame now stands 3-0 for the first time since 2002, but the fourth time in the last six seasons.

The ranking is the highest for Notre Dame, since it was listed 17th on Nov. 24, 2003. The only time the Irish made a bigger jump in the AVCA poll came in 1997, when they finished 18th after being unranked heading into the NCAA tournament, in which ND upset #18 Arkansas and then fell in four games at #4 Wisconsin in the round of 16. That also was the only time Notre Dame moved into the poll at a higher position after being unranked.

Since being ranked for the first time in the preseason of 1992, the Irish have been listed in the AVCA top 25 at some point in every season except for one (1999). This is the 11th time in those 14 years that ND has been in the top 20. In all, Notre Dame has been ranked in 121 of the 200 polls since then (61%). Only 20 schools have been ranked on more occasions than the Irish since the AVCA rankings debuted in 1982, and just 16 have been in more polls since the commencement of the 1992 campaign.

Five of Notre Dame’s 2005 opponents are also in the top 20: #6 Florida, #8 Southern California, #11 Louisville, #16 Tennessee, and #17 Texas.

Voting by 60 Division I head coaches – including Notre Dame’s Debbie Brown – determines the CSTV/AVCA Division I Coaches Top 25.

The Irish return to action this weekend in the UTSA Dome Rally in San Antonio, Texas. ND will face eighth-ranked USC on Friday at 7 p.m. (CDT), Oklahoma on Saturday at 1:30 p.m., and sixth-ranked Florida on Sunday at 11 a.m. in the Alamodome, also the site of the 2005 NCAA final four.