Nov. 12, 2007
NOTRE DAME, Ind. – For the first time this season, a pair of teammates have swept the BIG EAST Conference’s weekly volleyball awards.
The league announced on Monday that Notre Dame sophomore Megan Fesl (Arlington Heights, Ill./John Hersey) was named its Player of the Week and freshman Kellie Sciacca (Monument, Colo./Lewis-Palmer) picked up her third Rookie of the Week award on the season.
The duo led the Irish attack to two wins this past weekend, as Notre Dame ran its winning streak to four matches. The team has only dropped three games over that four-match stretch, including recent wins over then-No. 17 Louisville (Nov. 11) and a 3-1 victory against Cincinnati (Nov. 9).
Setting a career-best 21 kills against Louisville was Fesl, who in the last two matches has combined for only eight errors on 72 attempts with 35 kills for a .375 average.
On Friday, she put down 14 kills on a .429 hitting percentage while facing her sister, Annie, who is a setter for Cincinnati.
Sciacca hit over .400 in both of Notre Dame’s matches over the weekend. The middle blocker swung for a .417 average versus Cincinnati and had a .433 clip in a four-gamer with Louisville. Only four errors on 54 swings and eight blocks capped off her two-match performance, as she posted 3.38 kills/game and 1.00 block/game. She currently ranks first on the team in hitting percentage (.340) and is second in blocks/game with 1.13.
The recognition marked the third time Sciacca has won the weekly freshmen award – the most among BIG EAST rookies – and she has been named to the league’s honor roll on four occasions this season.
The fourth-seeded Irish will travel to Marquette for the BIG EAST Tournament and are scheduled to duel Cincinnati, the tournament’s No. 5 seed, on Friday (Nov. 16) at 11 a.m. (ET).
–ND–