Aug. 30, 2007
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NOTRE DAME, Ind. – After suffering a pair of setbacks against top-10 opponents to start the 2007 season, the University of Notre Dame volleyball team looks to get back on the winning path this weekend as it travels to Columbia, Mo., for the Tiger Invitational. The four-team field was reduced to only three when Florida A&M opted to withdraw from the event, leaving Notre Dame with a Friday match against host Missouri and a Saturday date with Florida International.
Notre Dame Fighting Irish
(0-2 overall, 0-0 BIG EAST)
Missouri Tigers
(2-1 overall, 0-0 Big 12)
Friday, Aug. 31, 2007 • 7:30 p.m. (ET)
Hearnes Center • Columbia, Mo.
Series vs. Missouri: Missouri leads 2-0
Series Streak: Missouri – won 2
Last Meeting: Sept. 2, 2006 – Missouri, 3-2
Live Stats / Audio / Video: MUTigers.com
Florida International Golden Panthers
(2-1 overall, 0-0 Sun Belt)
Saturday, Sept. 1, 2007 • 7:30 p.m. (ET)
Hearnes Center • Columbia, Mo.
Series vs. FIU: first meeting
Live Stats / Audio / Video: MUTigers.com
History 101 … The Golden Panthers are one of two 2007 opponents the Irish have never previously faced (along with Santa Barbara) … FIU fell to Middle Tennessee in the Sun Belt Conference Tournament finals last season … then-freshman Yiramar Rosa was named to the College Volleyball Update Stellar Spiker team and made its Rising Stars List of Top Freshmen … she also became the Golden Panthers’ first All-American while earning all-South Region freshman-of-the-year honors … three FIU players along with head coach Danijela Tomic each collected individual accolades from the Sun Belt Conference … Rosa and Keila Oliverira were dual winners, earning first-team all-Sun Belt nods in addition to Freshman of the Year and Newcomer of the Year honors, respectively … Olga Vergun was selected to the all-Sun Belt second team, while Tomic was named the league’s top coach … FIU dropped out of the conference tournament in the final match against Middle Tennessee, which was the third loss of the season for the Golden Panthers against the Blue Raiders … FIU is 1-1 in Sun Belt championship matches after winning the 2001 tournament … Notre Dame has failed to beat Missouri in two tries, with the first defeat coming in a 3-1 loss at Columbia in 1985 … ranked 21st for the 2006 meeting, Notre Dame fell short in its attempt to upset #13 Missouri in the Shamrock Invitational … the Irish had a 2-1 lead in games played at one point, but could not hold off the Tigers … at the time, it was only the fifth match Notre Dame had dropped in two seasons … the Tigers lost in five games to eventual national runner-up Stanford in the second round of the 2006 NCAA Tournament … Mizzou reached the second round of the NCAA Tournament for the third-consecutive year … the Tigers finished the season with a No. 21 ranking in the AVCA Coaches Poll, marking the third-consecutive season with a top-25 final ranking … Mizzou is one of only 15 teams to finish in the top 25 in each of the last three years … the squad won three matches over top 25 teams including a sweep of No. 5 Texas on September 23, the highest-ranked team a Tiger team has ever knocked off … since 2000, the Tigers and Nebraska are the only teams in the Big 12 to finish with 10 or more conference wins each season … Mizzou finished the season ranked seventh nationally in attendance with over 2,500 fans attending each match … the Tigers have finished in the top 10 of national attendance in the last two years.
FIU In Review … FIU comes off a strong showing this past weekend in Berkley, Calif., as they finished runners-up at the Cal Molten Classic … the Golden Panthers began the tournament Friday as they defeated Northwestern in five sets … trailing after three, FIU rallied in the final two sets to seal the victory … on Saturday, FIU defeated Idaho, 3-1, sending them to the championship match against host No. 10 California … there, the Golden Panthers struggled to find rhythm and were outscored by 30 points in a three-set loss to Cal on Sunday.
Measuring Mizzou … For a season opener, the Tigers’ 3-2 (28-30, 30-27, 32-34, 30-13, 14-16) loss to Mississippi in the earliest season opener in school history made for an eventual Friday …Tiger head coach Wayne Kreklow later said, “it definitely had a post-season atmosphere to it” … at two hours and 41 minutes, the match was the third-longest in Mizzou history … the final point total was 134 to 120 … three of the games were decided by two points.
Check Next Door … There may have been a lot of head scratching going on when fans made their way to the Joyce Center’s main arena to watch Notre Dame battle No. 7 Florida this past Sunday … the arena was being used for a freshmen orientation session, and as a result, the Joyce Center Fieldhouse hosted its first-ever volleyball match … the televised competition was played in front of 721 fans.
Doing the Dishes … Setter Ashley Tarutis totaled 860 assists in 2006 and now has 3634 assists in her career after notching 35 against Florida, which is fourth on the Notre Dame assists list … she needs 18 to tie Kristen Kinder for third place.
Digging Upwards … With her 12 digs against Florida, Adrianna Stasiuk took sole possession of third place on the school’s career list of matches with 10+ digs … now with 70, she passed Jenny Birkner’s spot on the chart and her total of 69.
Gimme Five … It’s nice when two or three players connect on 10 kills in a match … but it’s even better when five can pull it off … that’s just what then-20th Notre Dame did last time they faced Missouri, who was ranked 13th coming into the 2006 match on Sept. 2 … Christina Kaelin (24), Mallorie Croal (14), Justine Stremick (14) Adrianna Stasiuk (13), and Megan Fesl (13) all had double-digit kill performances.
Four Hands Are Better Than Two … Ashley Tarutis and Jamel Nicholas passed out 35 and 20 assists, respectively, in an Irish loss against No. 7 Florida … the occasion marked the second time in three matches that Notre Dame had two players record 20+ assists … the same duo accomplished the feat in the 2006 finale against No. 10 Wisconsin in the NCAA Tournament.
Must Have Been Something She Ate … When Notre Dame cracked open the lid on the 2007 season, Serinity Phillips had three kills on 14 attempts with two errors for a .071 average against Minnesota … whatever she did on her day off between Friday evening and Sunday’s match with Florida must have worked … Phillips responded with a career-best .583 hitting percentage with 14 kills on 24 swats without an error … Christina Kaelin (12-2-18, .556) was the last Irish player to hit .500+ when she did so in a 3-2 win at Cincinnati in 2006.
How’ve You Been Doing? Notre Dame’s non-conference opponents on the 2007 schedule went a combined 23-5 (.821) in the season’s opening week … six of those squads are ranked in the CSTV/AVCA’s top-25 … not one of the 12 teams ended the week below .500.
This Too Shall Pass … Not since 1990 has Notre Dame dropped its first two matches to start a season, albeit the pair of losses to kick off 2007 came against top-10 squads … that makes five-straight losses for the Irish dating back to a 3-2 setback against Louisville on Nov. 19, 2006, which is the longest streak since the program dropped seven straight matches – twice – in 1990.
Spoiling the Party … The Irish had never dropped a home opener under head coach Debbie Brown since she took over the program in 1991 until this season’s loss to Minnesota … the defeat also marked the first time an Irish team had not started a season with a win since they fell 3-1 to Montana in the 1990 opener.
Re-Joyce Center … Notre Dame is now 21-7 in home openers and had won its last 17 before falling to Minnesota … previously, the last time the Irish dropped an opener in the Joyce Center was in 1989 to Western Michigan, 3-2, in the Notre Dame Invitational … before this season, no ND team has started play on its home court with back-to-back matches against top-10 teams.
Get `em While They’re Hot … Opening a season with highly ranked opponents is nothing new to the Irish … Purdue was the first ranked team Notre Dame ever faced to open a season … the Boilermakers were 10th in 1984 when they downed ND … the Irish played a top-10 foe two weeks into the 1995 season in the Notre Dame Invitational … after beating Northwestern, #9 USC won the second match, 3-0 … #6 Pacific was ND’s third opponent in 1999 and downed the Irish, 3-0, in the Shamrock Invitational … Notre Dame had won its first two matches of the season over unranked opponents … an unranked Irish team traveled to the Four Points Sheraton Classic in Malibu, Calif., to start the 2003 season … they beat #10 Arizona, 3-1, before losing to host Pepperdine, who was ranked 5th-best in the nation … in the following week’s poll, Notre Dame jumped to the 21st spot … after opening with a home win against Loyola (Ill.) in 2004, ND suffered a pair of losses to #4 Nebraska at the Joyce Center.
Starting Fresh … Two freshmen cracked the starting lineup in their first collegiate match against Minnesota in ND’s opener … Kellie Sciacca had six kills and got her hand on a pair of blocks while Angela Puente had eight digs from the libero position … the pair narrowly made it back from a freshmen orientation session to catch the start of the duel with Florida.
Another BIG (EAST) One … Senior Adrianna Stasiuk, a 2006 all-BIG EAST first team selection, was one of five unanimous selections on the league’s 2007 preseason squad, joining Kimberley Todd (Marquette), Diana Andreyko (Pittsburgh), and preseason co-players of the year Hui Ping Huang (St. John’s) and Tatyana Kolesnikova (Louisville) … she took home second-team hardware as a sophomore, the same year she won the BIG EAST Championship’s Most Outstanding Player award.
Born to Win … Debbie Brown notched her 500th career win as a head coach during the 2006 campaign, and her 509 win total ranks 27th in that category among active coaches entering the 2007 season … in fact, only two active coaches have more wins in as many seasons … she is eight wins shy of No. 400 as Notre Dame’s head skipper.
Mal-mentum … After putting together a band of seven consecutive double-doubles to end the season, which was the second longest streak in the record books, junior Mallorie Croal picked up a spot on the BIG EAST’s preseason squad … and that’s after she earned first-team honors in 2006.
Why Not Both? Adrianna Stasiuk reached double figures in digs 24 times in 2006, which placed her seventh on that list for a single season … her streak of 10 consecutive matches with 10+ digs (Sept 17-Oct. 20, 2006) is tied for the fourth longest streak in a single season.
Start Early, Finish Late… Ashley Tarutis has played in 357 consecutive games … that streak is only 6 behind Meg Henican for the school’s record for uninterrupted games played … not a game has gone by during her career in which she has not seen the court.
Closing In … Sophomore Christina Kaelin had five 20+-kill matches last season to finish tied for sixth in a single season. Christy Peters holds the all-time single season mark of nine (1994) … after one season, Kaelin is one spot shy Notre Dame’s all-time top-10 list for career 20+-kill matches.
Buddy System … Notre Dame switched up its two setters (Ashley Tarutis and Jamel Nicholas) throughout much of the 2006 season, where each led the team in assists in at least 11 matches … due in part to the two-setter approach, neither ranked among the top-10 statistical leaders in the BIG EAST, but Notre Dame, as a team, ranked second (14.78) in assists among league members … the Irish have taken that same approach into the 2007 schedule, and both have reached double-digits in the dish category in the season’s first two matches.
Rejection Is a Good Thing … Junior Justine Stremick ranked sixth in the conference with her average of 1.37 blocks per game, and her 27 solo blocks were among the conference leaders in the BIG EAST last season … she also had nearly more blocks (156) that season than her next two closest teammates (Mallorie Croal and Kim Kristoff) combined, who totaled 164 together.
Down But Not Out … Christina Kaelin (shoulder) and Mallorie Croal (ankle) both missed Notre Dame’s season opener against Minnesota … Croal is expected to return to action within the next few weeks while Kaelin could possibly see action later in the year.
And You Thought You Had It Bad … Not only did Notre Dame face two top-10 squads in the season’s first weekend, but seven of its 13 non-conference opponents were ranked among the nation’s top 25 in the CSTV/AVCA Coaches Preseason Poll … additionally, three more non-conference foes along with Louisville and St. John’s received votes in the standings … the RichKern.com Poll had eight future Irish opponents in its preseason top-30, with five more appearing within the following 10 spots.
Guess Who’s Back … Lauren Brewster, a two-time All-American and one of the program’s most decorated players, is the latest addition to the Notre Dame coaching staff … Brewster will be responsible for working with the middle blockers, coordinating travel, and assisting with virtually all aspects within the Irish program … indeed, Brewster knows a thing or two about blocking after having been the NCAA’s leader in that category in 2003 while ranking among the nation’s top 25 leaders for four straight seasons … she was one of only five Division I players to be an AVCA All-American and CoSIDA Academic All-American in 2005, the same year she was on ESPN The Magazine’s Academic All-America second-team.
Same Places, New Faces … The six student-athletes who comprised the 2006 freshman class – Tara Enzweiler, Megan Fesl, Christina Kaelin, Kim Kristoff, Jamel Nicholas and Serinity Phillips – earned high praise before even stepping on campus, as two publications ranked the group among the five best in the country … Volleyball Magazine had Notre Dame third on its list of top recruiting classes, while PrepVolleyball.com placed the Irish fifth on a similar list … Kellie Sciacca, who was ranked 22nd on PrepVolleyball.com’s Senior Aces list in 2006, joins classmates Megan Dunne, Angela Puente, and Stephanie Slatt as Notre Dame’s four-deep freshmen class this season.
A Change Will Do You Good … The Fighting Irish used 11 different lineups in 2006, each of which utilized at least two of this year’s sophomores and sometimes as many as four members of the class started at the same time … through two matches this season, the Irish have gone with the same lineup while starting a pair of freshmen (Kellie Sciacca and Angela Puente) in each battle.
Push Restart … In 2006, the Irish were without five starters from a squad that posted a 30-4 mark one season prior … but six players that saw significant action last year are back for the most recent Irish campaign.
— ND —