Sept. 16, 2005
COLLEGE STATION, Texas – The Irish had 12 service aces and senior OH Lauren Kelbley (Bascom, Ohio/Hopewell-Loudon H.S.) posted 15 kills on .412 hitting to lead the eighth-ranked University of Notre Dame women’s volleyball team to a 30-23, 30-26, 30-26 victory over Tulane (1-1) Friday afternoon in the Nokia Sugar Bowl Classic in the White Coliseum. The Irish improved to 7-0 this season and have now won 12 consecutive games, with 10 of them decided by four points or fewer.
The Irish won just the second all-time meeting between the schools – the first since 1986 – in a tournament hosted by Tulane, which has seen its volleyball team move its base of operations to Texas A&M University.
As has been customary with this team, Notre Dame blocked and served well and prevailed when it got close. The Irish registered 12 service aces (4.00 per game) – coming from six different servers – while making only eight errors. It marked the most for ND in a match since notching 15 on Sept. 16, 2004, in four games at South Carolina. Kelbley and sophomore Ashley Tarutis (Long Beach, Calif./Los Alamitos H.S.) led the effort with three aces apiece, while senior middle blockers Carolyn Cooper (Houston, Texas/Lutheran South Academy) and Lauren Brewster (Brentwood, Tenn./Brentwood H.S.) contributed two each. Senior OH Meg Henican (New Orleans, La./Isidore Newman H.S.) and sophomore OH Adrianna Stasiuk (Park Ridge, Ill./Maine South H.S.) also had one apiece. The last time Notre Dame had that many aces in a three-game affair was on Nov. 23, 2001, when the Irish posted 14 in a three-game win against Louisiana State (that was the last meeting between ND and the Tigers, who will play on Sunday).
The Irish had 11 blocks – the seventh time in as many matches this season they have been in double figures – with Cooper leading the way by taking part in six of them. Kelbley was in on five blocks, while Brewster – who came into the match ranked first in the BIG EAST in the category – had four blocks.
Once again, Notre Dame’s defense – which had the Irish enter the week as the only Division I team among the top 10 nationally in both blocking and digging – was effective, holding the Green Wave to a .131 hitting mark. Only once this season has an Irish opponent hit over .200. In addition, Tulane freshman OH Sara Radosevic – who came into the match leading the nation in kills per game (8.33, though the Green Wave had played just a single match) – had 11 kills and nine errors for a .041 attack percentage. Leading Tulane’s offense was junior MB/RS Sara Thorson, who had 13 kills on .281 hitting.
Leading the floor defense was Stasiuk, who had a team-high 19 digs despite playing at outside hitter instead of libero (where she appeared in six of 10 games last weekend). It was a collegiate high for her when not sporting the libero jersey. Henican added a dozen digs, while junior libero Danielle Herndon (Plant City, Fla./Durant H.S.) had seven.
Kelbley made just a single error on 34 attack attempts en route to posting a season-high hitting mark and posting a match-high 21 points. Cooper also was efficient on her swings, converting on six of her 13 for a .385 percentage. Brewster added nine kills, while Stasiuk had seven and Henican notched six.
Tarutis finished with 36 assists, while her offense had a .161 hitting percentage. Among the challenges faced was taking on senior libero Kelli Dickson, who came in tops in Division I in digs per game (8.33). She finished with 23 digs and helped Tulane to a 64-56 advantage in digs.
Despite a 20-day layoff between matches, Tulane came out hot, winning four of the first five points and building an early 12-4 advantage. The Irish rallied and eventually tied the score at 20-20 and then, after splitting the next two points, finished the game on a 9-2 run, continuing a tradition of ending games well.
After Notre Dame went up 7-4 early in game two, the Green Wave won six consecutive points to take the lead (10-7). That advantage was short-lived, as the Irish pulled ahead for good at 12-11. Kelbley led the offense in the game, with six kills on 11 errorless swings.
Notre Dame never trailed in game three, going up by as many as eight (26-18) and staving off a late Tulane run to clinch the match.
Friday’s match was a battle of two of the 17 Division I teams that entered the week unbeaten. The tournament was originally scheduled to be played in Fogelman Arena in New Orleans, but was moved due to the damage caused by Hurricane Katrina. The Green Wave had not played since its season opener and had not even resumed practice until earlier this week.
Notre Dame will return to action on Sunday at 11 a.m. (CDT), taking on Louisiana State (9-1), which is off to its best start since 1991 and is receiving votes in the AVCA poll for the first time under eighth-year head coach Fran Flory. It will be the first match between the teams since 2001.
#8 Notre Dame (7-0) 30-30-30Tulane (1-1) 23-26-26
Kills: ND 43 (Kelbley 15), TLN 40 (Thorson 13)Attack Pct.: ND .161 (Kelbley .412), TLN .131 (Wells .286)Assists: ND 37 (Tarutis 36), TLN 36 (Rebrovic 33)Service Aces-Errors: ND 12-8 (Kelbley & Cooper, 3), TLN 4-8 (Boatwright 2)Digs: ND 56 (Stasiuk 19), TLN 64 (Dickson 23)Blocks: ND 11 (Cooper 6), TLN 7 (Wells 4)Points: ND 66 (Kelbley 21), TLN 51 (Thorson 13.5)Attendance: 387