Notre Dame Fighting Irish - Official Athletics Website

Volleyball Coasts Past Valparaiso

Sept. 18, 2001

Box Score

The University of Notre Dame volleyball team shook off the effects of an unexpected layoff last week and three straight losses to post its fourth victory of the season at home over Valparaiso (0-7) in three games (30-22, 30-12, 30-17) at the Joyce Center Tuesday night. The 24th-ranked Irish are now 4-3 on the season and begin BIG EAST Conference competition at home on Saturday against Syracuse (6 p.m.).

The team wore an embroidered American flag on its jerseys as a show of support for the victims of last week’s terrorist attacks and were the first Irish athletic team to see action after the postponement of Notre Dame athletic competition last week.

It was the first match in eight days for Notre Dame, but the Irish showed little rust against the Crusaders. With an extremely effective offensive attack, the home team posted a .353 team hitting percentage for the match and committed just 12 attack errors on 102 attempts.

Senior middle blocker Malinda Goralski (Missouri City, Texas) enjoyed one of the most efficient offensive days the Joyce Center has ever seen. Goralski posted 15 kills on 21 attempts without an error for an impressive .714 hitting percentage (a mark tied for third in the Joyce Center record book). Goralski also had four blocks in the match.

Valparaiso was unable to develop much of an offensive attack all night. Notre Dame would hold the Crusaders to a .017 hitting percentage with seven total team blocks and 53 digs. Junior defensive specialist Janie Alderete (Santa Clara, Calif.) led the Irish in digs for the second consecutive contest with 13. Keara Coughlin (Chicago, Ill.), Kristy Kreher (Birmingham, Mich.) and Emily Loomis (Fort Wayne, Ind.) each had eight digs apiece as the Crusaders were unable to put any attacks on the floor against the Irish.

Every Irish player saw action in the match and freshmen Leah Nedderman (Grapevine, Texas) and Kelly Corbett (Mountain View, Calif.) each scored their first career kill against Valparaiso. Sophomore Christa Moen (San Antonio, Texas) had seven digs off the bench while classmate Katie Neff (St. Louis, Mo.) added three kills.

Valparaiso was led on offense by Elissa Malthaner and Carrie Goodrich with seven kills each.