Oct. 22, 2006
NOTRE DAME, Ind.- Freshman outside hitter Christina Kaelin (Louisville, Ky./Assumption) led the Notre Dame (13-8, 7-1 BIG EAST) attack with a 12 kills, but it was not enough as the Irish were swept by conference rival St. John’s (23-1, 8-0 BIG EAST), on Sunday, Oct. 22, at the Joyce Center. The game scores went 30-32, 24-30, 22-30. This was also only the second BIG EAST regular season match the Irish have lost at the Joyce Center since joining the conference in 1995 (Boston College, Nov. 7, 2004). The taped-delayed Comcast Local match will be shown on Thursday, Oct. 26 at 8 p.m.
Kaelin led the Notre Dame attack with her 12 kills while hitting .333 with two blocks for the match. Fellow freshmen Megan Fesl (Arlington Heights, Ill./John Hersey) and Serinity Phillips (Valley Center, Calif./Valley Center) also reached double-digits in kills. Fesl tallied 10 on a .450 hitting percentage to go along with seven digs, while Phillips totaled 10 kills and three blocks. Sophomore Justine Stremick (Langdon, N.D./Langdon Area) contributed four kills and three blocks. Mallorie Croal (Villa Park, Calif./Mater Dei) had eight kills and eight digs. The Red Storm had four players reach double figures in kills led by Hui Ping Huang’s 16. The Irish were out hit .240 to .227 and also trailed in the digs category 66 to 51.
The first game would prove to be the most entertaining of the afternoon. The Red Storm jumped out a five-point lead on a service ace from Casie Brooks. The lead grew to 10 on a kill from Brooks at 19-9. The Irish finally began a tremendous comeback trailing the Red Storm by nine at 26-17. Kaelin started the rally with a kill. Phillips followed with a kill to get the Irish within seven. An attack error allowed Notre Dame to inch a little closer and forced a Red Storm timeout. The Red Storm would score the first point after the stoppage of play, only to see Notre Dame go on a 4-0 run forcing another SJU timeout. Again after the timeout Saint John’s would tally a point and get within game point at 25-29, only to again see the Irish rally and tie the game on a kill from Stremick. St. John’s took the next lead at 30-29 on a kill from Latoya Blunt, only to see Notre Dame rally and tie the game again on a kill from Phillips. Another Blunt kill gave St. John’s the lead for good at 31-30, as the game was finished off on a kill from Huang.
The Irish may have been drained from the first game, as it was another slow start in the second. A kill from Caitlin Rimgalia extended the Red Storm lead to five at 11-6. The Irish then rallied and got within four on a kill from Fesl, only to St. John’s regroup and go on an 8-3 run. The Irish had another run in them and closed to within four on a kill from Croal at 25-21. The lead dwindled to three on a St. John’s attack error at 26-23, forcing a St. John’s timeout. After the stoppage of play, the Red Storm finished the game off on a 4-1 run to take the second game 30-24.
Notre Dame attempted to rally from the two game deficit in the third game and started strong tying the game up at 12 on a kill from Phillips. After four different tied scores, the Red Storm took the lead for good on a kill from Huang at 18-17. St. John’s finished the game and match out on a 12-5 run to take the third and final game by the score of 30-22.
The Irish have two more conference matches next week as Notre Dame travels to take on Cincinnati at 10 a.m. on Saturday, Oct. 28 and Louisville at 1 p.m. on Sunday, Oct. 29. The Louisville match will be shown by ESPNU.
Notes: Notre Dame drops to 1-5 in television matches this season … Notre Dame also was swept in conference regular season play for the first time since Nov. 7. 2004, which was also the last time the Irish lost a home conference match … with junior Adrianna Stasiuk (Park Ridge, Ill./Maine South) being forced out of the match after the first game, it was the first two games she did not play in this season.