Sept. 30, 2011
NOTRE DAME, Ind. – Last Sunday’s 3-1 setback to Villanova evened the Notre Dame volleyball team’s BIG EAST Conference record to 1-1 on the season, but the Irish look to rebound during contests against Cincinnati (Oct. 1) and Louisville (Oct. 2) this weekend at Purcell Pavilion.
Notre Dame, picked second in the BIG EAST preseason coaches poll, has its work cut out as Louisville – the league’s preseason favorite – and Cincinnati each sit in a four-way tie for first-place in the conference standings at 2-0 (with Villanova and Seton Hall). Cincinnati was tabbed third in the preseason poll.
Fans can follow all the action this weekend on UND.com with live video, audio, blog and stats.
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Notre Dame Fighting Irish (8-4 overall – 1-1 BIG EAST)
[und.com – bigeast.org]
Cincinnati Bearcats (10-6 overall – 2-0 BIG EAST)
Saturday, Oct. 1 – 2:00 p.m. (ET)
[gobearcats.com – bigeast.org]
Series history: Notre Dame leads, 9-4 (3-3 BIG EAST)
Series streak: Cincinnati, W2
First meeting: 9.19.87 – Notre Dame, 3-2
Last meeting: 11.19.10 – Cincinnati, 3-0
Louisville Cardinals (10-4 overall – 2-0 BIG EAST)
Sunday, Oct. 2 – 2:00 p.m. (ET)
[uoflsports.com – bigeast.org]
Series history: Notre Dame leads, 17-9 (4-2 BIG EAST)
Series streak: Louisville, W2
First meeting: 10.11.86 – Notre Dame, 3-0
Last meeting: 10.9.10 – Louisville, 3-1
Following the Irish …
Live stats: UND.com
Live audio: UND.com
Live video: UND.com
Live chat: UND.com/blog
Facebook: facebook.com/NotreDameAthletics, facebook.com/NDvolleyball
Twitter: @UND_com, @NDvolleyball, @NDcoachBrown, @NDsidJorge
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Bump, Set, Spike …
– Notre Dame and Cincinnati last met in the semifinals of the 2010 BIG EAST Championship with the Bearcats prevailing in straight sets, 3-0 … the match featured 28 ties and 13 lead changes as the back-and-forth tilt was much more competitive than the two teams’ regular-season meeting … in that match, there were only nine ties and three lead changes as the Bearcats outscored the Irish by 22 points … Saturday’s contest will be the 14th meeting between Notre Dame and Cincinnati with the Irish holding a 28-20 advantage in sets won throughout the series … with the regular-season win over the Irish in 2010, Cincinnati extended its home winning streak to 35 matches, which at the time was the second-longest home streak in the nation behind Penn State … the Irish needed five sets to defeat the Bearcats when the two teams last met on Notre Dame’s home floor in 2009 (Serinity Phillips recorded her 1,000th career kill and Jamel Nicholas delivered three aces down the final stretch of the fifth set) … Notre Dame is 4-0 against the Bearcats at home … in 2006, the Irish redeemed a regular-season loss by knocking the Bearcats out of the BIG EAST Championship with a come-from-behind win in five sets … it was the first time on the season that Notre Dame had trailed 2-1 and came back to win … the match also marked the second time all season that Notre Dame had a pair of players with 20+ kills in the same match … Mallorie Croal had 25 kills while Adrianna Stasiuk slammed 23 … Cincinnati’s 3-0 win in October 2007 was its first defeat of an Irish squad … the first-ever match between the teams was a five-set affair in the 1987 Eastern Kentucky Colonel Invitational in Richmond, Ky. … the schools did not play again until an Irish win in the opening round of the 2000 NCAA Tournament in Columbus, Ohio … Zanette Bennett cranked 31 kills against the Bearcats in the 1987 match, a total which stands tied for the third-highest ever by an Irish player in any length match … she finished with a .529 hitting mark in that match, which is the second-highest mark in program history in a five-set affair … Irish great Mary Jo Hensler (1981-84) hails from the Cincinnati area.
– Notre Dame has won three of the four regular-season meetings with Louisville, but the Cardinals have knocked the Irish out of three of the last four BIG EAST Championships … Notre Dame saw its 19-match BIG EAST regular-season winning streak come to an end when it traveled to Louisville in 2010, as the Cardinals handed the Irish a 3-1 defeat … the rivalry lived up to the billing, resulting in the end of the nation’s sixth-longest league winning streak … the two squads are no stranger to long matches, as that contest was the fourth-straight and seventh in the last 10 meetings between the teams that did not end in a sweep … it was the first time Notre Dame was out-hit in a league match in 21 consecutive outings, dating back to 2008 … the defeat in the 2009 league tournament snapped Notre Dame’s 15-match winning streak … Notre Dame downed Louisville for the latest of its nine league titles in 2005 … Louisville native Christina Kaelin tallied 14 kills in a homecoming match of sorts during the regular-season meeting between the two teams in 2008 … Kaelin also hit .344 during the 3-0 Irish win, which was the first sweep on the Cardinals’ home floor since the first-ever meeting between the two programs on Oct. 11, 1986 … it was just the fourth sweep over Louisville for Notre Dame in the 25-match series history … during the 2007 regular season, the Irish dealt Louisville a 3-1 defeat to blemish what was previously an undefeated league mark for the Cardinals … in 2003 postseason action, the Cardinals knocked Notre Dame out of the NCAA Tournament with a 3-0 first-round win … Louisville defeated Notre Dame twice in 2006, the first time the Irish had ever dropped multiple contests to the Cardinals in the same season … in the 1994 meeting in the Joyce Center, the Irish had 94 kills which ranks fifth on the school’s all-time list … after six consecutive Notre Dame wins, Louisville broke through at home in 1992 with a 3-1 upset of the 20th-ranked Irish.
– Notre Dame went 1-1 last weekend with a loss to Villanova after sweeping Georgetown to open BIG EAST play … 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.
–ND–