Nov. 16, 2006
CINCINNATI, Ohio- The University of Notre Dame’s volleyball team had three members of its squad earn all-BIG EAST honors for the 2006 campaign. The announcement was made this evening, Nov. 16 at the league’s annual banquet held at Great Hall on the campus of University of Cincinnati.
Adrianna Stasiuk (Park Ridge, Ill./Maine South) garnered first team honors for the first time in her career. A year ago, she was a second team all-BIG East selection. Stasiuk leads the team in kills (256), points (319.5) and service aces (27) and ranks second in digs (280). The junior was named the BIG EAST Player of the Week on Sept. 25 and has been a member of the BIG EAST Honor Roll three times in ’06.
Mallorie Croal (Villa Park, Calif./Mater Dei) also earned first-team accolades for the first time in her career. She ranks second on the squad in points (287.5) and third in kills (239). An outside hitter, she was named the BIG EAST Player of the Week on Nov. 6 and has been a member of the BIG EAST Honor Roll once this season.
Justine Stremick (Langdon, N.D./Langdon Area) picked up second team all-BIG EAST honors for the first time in her career. One of the more effective middle blockers in the league, she ranks among the league leaders in hitting percentage (.331) and blocks (1.40 per game). The sophomore set a personal best with her 14 blocks against Idaho and has been on the BIG EAST Honor Roll twice this season.
This was the ninth time since joining the conference that Notre Dame has had three or more members earn all-BIG EAST teams (1995, ’97, ’99, ’00, ’01,’02, ’03,’05), as the Irish were one of four teams with two first team selections. Conference champion St. John’s, Louisville and Pittsburgh also had a pair of first-team honorees. St. John’s led all squads with six players that were chosen for all-BIG EAST honors.
Louisville’s Ana Stewart was named the Player of the Year, while teammate Tatyana Kolesnikova took home Rookie of the Year honors. St. John’s received the other two specialty awards as Kathleen “Lena” Yee was tabbed Libero of the Year. Joanne Perisco-Smith earned Coach of the Year for the first time in her 12-year career.
Notre Dame (16-11, 10-4 BIG EAST) will begin play in the BIG EAST Championship as the fifth seed on Friday, Nov. 17 at 6 p.m. against host Cincinnati (21-6, 10-4 BIG EAST) which earned the fourth. The winner of the match will move on to face the winner of St. John’s/South Florida on Saturday, Nov. 18 at 3:30 p.m. The single elimination tournament concludes on Sunday, Nov. 19 with the BIG EAST Championship match to be shown on CSTV live at 4 p.m. All the quarterfinal and semifinal matches will video streamed live for free on the BIG EAST’s website (bigeast.org).