#12 Jamel Nicholas 2008-09 Volleyball Roster

2009 AVCA all-Northeast Region – 2009 ESPN The Magazine Second Team Academic All-District – 2009 First Team All-BIG EAST – 2009 BIG EAST Player of the Week (Oct. 12) – 2009 Notre Dame / Adidas Invitational All-Tournament Team – 2009 Xavier Invitational All-Tournament Team – Notre Dame Leadership of Distinction Award

AS A SENIOR (2009): Dedicated leader and team co-captain … only player to start in each match (28) and play in each set (103) … steered Notre Dame to a .253 hitting pct., which ranked 30th nationally … 11.01 assists/set was the 30th-best mark of any setter in the nation … third in BIG EAST play with 11.42 assists/set … Notre Dame led the league with 14.32 kills/set and was second overall with 13.13 assists/set in conference matches … her 1,136 assists put her at No. 11 on the single-season list, bringing her career total to 3,094 (fifth all-time) … posted a 7.30 assists/set mark for her four-years, ninth-best in program history … first team all-BIG EAST … AVCA all-Northeast Region … also earned a spot on the Xavier Invitational and Notre Dame /adidas Invitational all-tournament teams … ESPN The Magazine Academic All-District honoree … 12 double-doubles … 16 matches with 40+ assists … three matches with 50+ assists … 12 matches with 10+ digs … led Notre Dame to season-best hitting clips of .422 (three sets – vs. Denver, Aug. 28), .353 (four sets – at Xavier, Sept. 4) and .297 (five sets – at Florida State, Sept. 20) … posted a career-high four aces against Villanova (Oct. 4) to help the Irish snap a two-match losing streak to the Wildcats after Notre Dame had won the first 16 meetings between the two schools … equaled a career-best with three blocks at Syracuse (Nov. 8) … swatted 55 kills, with five of those coming against Miami (Sept. 19) … scooped a season-high 15 digs against Michigan (Sept. 6) … second on the team with 23 aces … 27 block assists and 28.0 total rejections … six matches with multiple aces … punched in 11.10 assists/set during the Xavier Invitational (Sept. 4-6) … put up stellar numbers with 11.14 assists/set and 2.57 digs/set while leading the Irish to a .324 hitting percentage during the Notre Dame / adidas Invitational (Sept. 11-13) … came through with big play after big play to post a pair of wins over two of the conference[apos]s top squads in Cincinnati (Oct. 10) and Louisville (Oct. 11), and the efforts earned her the BIG EAST Player of the Week award on Oct. 12 … led the Irish past the Bearcats with 52 assists, three kills, eight digs and two blocks … each of her three clutch aces in the fifth set of that win were part of a 6-0 Irish run to close the books … she went for 45 assists and 14 digs against Louisville … 48 assists, two aces and 14 digs on Senior Day against USF (Nov. 15) … peppered Louisville (Nov. 21) with 54 assists in a five-set loss at the BIG EAST Tournament … had three kills, 40 assists and 10 digs to end the season in the NCAA Tournament against Ohio (Dec. 4) … honored with Notre Dame[apos]s Leadership of Distinction Award.

AS A JUNIOR (2008): Team co-captain … fended off a late-season injury to steer the Irish to a spot in the final match of the BIG EAST Championship for the 13th time in 14 seasons since joining the league in 1995 … paced the team in assists in each of the 31 contests while mentoring (then) freshman setter Beth Wildermuth … reached a noteworthy milestone at the Idaho Volleyball Classic (Sept. 5-6) by surpassing the 1,000-assist plateau for her career … finished the season with 1,107 assists (9.54/set) to bring her career total to 1,958, the seventh-best mark in program history … third in BIG EAST action with 10.93 assists/set … Notre Dame ranked fourth in conference play with a .261 hitting pct. … the team was second with 12.85 assists/set and third with 13.73 kills/set … distributed a career-high 68 assists during a five-set match versus Syracuse (Nov. 1), the most by any BIG EAST setter in any match throughout the season (it was the first time an Irish player had 60+ assists since Ashley Tarutis registered 63 in a four-set win over USF in 2007) … Notre Dame[apos]s 74 assists in that match was the highest total of any league team on the year … Notre Dame hit better than .300 in nine matches with a season-best .377 mark against Syracuse, which was also the best clip for a five-set match in program history … the Irish also had 76 kills in the contest to lead the league in that single-match category … threw down seven kills on nine attempts against Valparaiso (Aug. 31) … the first of her seven double-doubles came one week later against Washington State (Sept. 6), when she logged 23 assists and 10 digs … 48 assists at USF (Sept. 26) … helped sweep Louisville (Oct. 4) with 47 assists and a team hitting pct. of .319 … first 50-assist match of her career came against Pittsburgh (Oct. 12) with a total of 54 … also had 52 assists against Marquette (Nov. 2) and Connecticut (Nov. 16) with 59 more versus St. John[apos]s (Nov. 22) at the BIG EAST Championship … scooped a season-high 19 shots at Villanova (Oct. 25) … six multi-ace matches and 27 total aces … teamed for 16 block assists.

AS A SOPHOMORE (2007): Shared the court with fellow setter Ashley Tarutis for the bulk of the season … appeared in 100 sets and each of Notre Dame[apos]s 28 matches … notched 230 assists (2.30/set) … recorded 118 digs (1.18/set) … posted double-digit assists in nine matches … also had 17 service aces … went five consecutive matches with at least one ace (Sept. 23-Oct. 12) … had four matches with multiple aces … cleanly received three serves on the season … tallied five kills … finished nine matches with double-digit assists … wrapped up nine matches with a perfect serve percentage … had a season-high 23 assists against Marquette (Oct. 12) … scooped 16 digs at LSU (Oct. 23) … shelved a trio of aces versus No. 11 California (Sept. 15) … dished off 19 assists in back-to-back matches with the Golden Bears and Santa Clara (Sept. 16) … had 10 digs in the regular-season finale against No. 17 Louisville (Nov. 11) … handed out 20 assists in an early-season battle with No. 7 Florida (Aug. 26) … distributed 21 helpers at Pittsburgh (Sept. 22) and against Villanova (Sept. 30) … assisted on 10 kills at No. 23 St. John[apos]s (Oct. 28).

AS A FRESHMAN (2006): Appeared in 105 sets over 31 matches with seven starts … led the team in assists 11 times including a stretch of four matches from Sept. 1-3 … finished second on the team with 621 assists (5.91/set) … fifth in service aces (22) … reached double figures in assists 28 times … totaled 15 matches with a perfect serving percentage … started the first match of her career against Valparaiso (Sept. 1) … tallied 36 assists and 10 digs against the Crusaders for her first career double-double … helped Notre Dame place second among the BIG EAST[apos]s statistical leaders in assists/set (14.78) … had 35 assists and 21 digs against No. 13 Missouri (Sept. 2) … slammed home two kills to go along with 16 assists and six digs against Butler (Sept. 15) in the Sun Devil Classic … racked 29 assists, 12 digs and perfect serving percentage on 17 attempts versus Duke (Sept. 16) … chalked four service aces at Rutgers (Sept. 23) … set her way to 38 assists against No. 18 Ohio (Nov. 24) in the Louisville Invitational … wrapped up her first season with 25 assists and five digs at No. 10 Wisconsin (Dec. 1) in the first round of the NCAA Tournament.

THE NICHOLAS FILE: One of seven freshmen in an Irish recruiting class that Volleyball Magazine and PrepVolleyball.com tabbed one of the nation[apos]s best … listed among PrepVolleyball.com[apos]s Top 150 Senior Aces … led Pine-Richland (Pa.) into the 2005 high school state tournament … four-year co-captain of her prep squad … tabbed all-state by the Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic Association (PIAA) as a freshman, sophomore and senior … missed her junior season due to an injury … named the 2005 Gatorade Player of the Year in Pennsylvania … a member of the all-Western Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic League (WPIAL) team in first two seasons … earned all-WPIAL and all-state accolades again in 2005 … led Pine-Richland to the WPIAL championship in 2005 … the 2005 North Hills High School Athlete of the Year, chosen by the Pittsburgh Gazette … named to Volleyball Magazine[apos]s list of the top 80 prep sophomores in the 2003-04 season … just the second Pennsylvania native to play volleyball for the Irish, following outside hitter Robin Israel (Norwin), who wrapped up her career with the Irish in 1982 … other Pittsburgh products to become student-athletes at Notre Dame are basketball player Dwight Clay (whose jumper ended UCLA[apos]s NCAA-record 88-game winning streak in 1974), football All-American and academic All-American Don Schaefer (1955), All-American swimmer Teri Schindler (1982) and All-American distance runner Derek Seiling (1997) … member of the National Honor Society and St. Alphonsus bell choir … full name is Jamel Therese Nicholas … first name is pronounced juh-MEL … daughter of Sue and Joe Nicholas … mother was a four-year starting setter at Illinois State … wore the #12 jersey also worn by four-time All-American Lauren Brewster (2002-05) … born Nov. 12, 1987 … earned a pair of degrees (sociology and film, television and theatre) while minoring in education schooling and society.

Nicholas[apos] Career Statistics