November 25, 1998

CELEBRATE: In a season of definite ups and downs, the Notre Dame women’s volleyball team (17-12 overall) came together to win the BIG EAST Tournament Championships with a convincing 15-11, 15-10, 15-13 victory over the district and tournament’s top seed Georgetown. The Irish, who outblocked the Hoyas 15.5-5, only fell behind three times during the match. One of those times was late in the third game, when Georgetown was up 13-12. A service ace by Notre Dame captain Lindsay Treadwell (Austin, Texas) and a block by Mary Leffers (Tampa, Fla.) and Marcie Bomhack (Waukesha, Wis.) put the Irish ahead 14-13. On the very next play, Emily Schiebout (Blaine, Minn.) put away a hard cross-court spike to seal the victory and the championship.

DA BOMB(ER): Marcie Bomhack became the first freshman to earn the BIG EAST Tournament MVP award since Pittsburgh’s Anne Marie Lucanie in 1990. Bomhack, who was also named to the BIG EAST All-Rookie team earlier in the weekend, had 44 kills on 129 attempts for a team leading .265 hitting percentage in the three matches. The former Volleyball Magazine Fab-50 selection also added 40 digs and nine block assists and hit a team high 15 kills on .406 hitting with 10 digs in the championship match versus Georgetown. Bomhack joins past Irish BIG EAST Tournament MVP’s Jaimie Lee (1997), Lindsay Treadwell (1996) and Angie Harris (1995).

THE BOMBER STRIKES AGAIN: Marcie Bomhack was one of four Notre Dame players honored at Friday’s regular season awards banquet. Bomhack hack along with teammate and fellow freshman Kristy Kreher (Birmingham, Mich.) were named to the BIG EAST All-Rookie team. Team captain Lindsay Treadwell was named to the All-BIG EAST first team and sophomore Christi Girton (Muncie, Ind.) made the All-BIG EAST second team. Girton’s award was the outside hitters second honor in as many years from the BIG EAST, making the 1997 BIG EAST All-Rookie squad with teammate Denise Boylan (Lisle, Ill.).

1998 NOTRE DAME
VOLLEYBALL SCHEDULE

9/1    @Valparaiso               W, 3-09/4    Georgia                   W, 3-29/6    #12 Colorado              L, 0-39/11   @#7 Wisconsin             L, 0-39/12   vs. Indiana               L, 2-39/18   vs. UNH                   W, 3-19/19   vs. Utah                  L, 0-3 9/19   @#18 Mich. St.            L, 0-310/2   Seton Hall*               W, 3-010/4   Rutgers*                  W, 3-110/6   at Illinois State         L, 1-310/9   at Connecticut*           L, 2-310/10  at Fairfield              L, 2-310/11  at St. John's*            W, 3-010/17  at Duke                   W, 3-010/18  at UNC                    L, 1-310/21  at #6 Florida             L, 3-010/23  Providence*               W, 3-110/25  Boston Coll.*             W, 3-010/29  Oral Roberts              L, 2-310/31  Syracuse*                 W, 3-111/6   Georgetown*               W, 3-111/8   Villanova*                W, 3-011/14  at Pittsburgh*            W, 3-211/15  at West Virginia*         L, 0-311/18  Toledo                    7 p.m.

BIG EAST Championships

11/21    vs. Pittsburgh*         W, 3-111/21    vs. Connecticut*        W, 3-211/22    vs. Georgetown*         W, 3-012/3-6   NCAA 1st-2nd Rounds12/10-13 NCAA Regionals12/17    NCAA Semifinals12/19    NCAA Championships
* = BIG EAST Conference    

In other awards, Georgetown swept the big ones with senior middle blocker Melissa Tytko getting player of the year, freshman Yulia Vtyurina receiving the rookie of the year nod and Hoyas’ coach Jolene Nagel getting the coach of the year award. Vtyurina also became the first rookie of the year to also be named to the All-BIG EAST first team. Nagel, in her second year as head coach, led the Hoyas to their first BIG EAST co-championship, despite being picked to finish fifth in the coaches’ preseason poll. Last season, Georgetown finished in a tie for sixth place in the BIG EAST with a 14-15 overall record, 5-6 in the conference play.

REGULAR SEASON BIG EAST AWARDS:
Player of the Year: Melissa Tytko, Georgetown
Rookie of the Year: Yulia Vtyurina, Georgetown
Coach of the Year: Jolene Nagel, Georgetown

All-BIG EAST First Team: Lindsay Treadwell, Notre Dame; Kiran Gill, Georgetown; Jenelle Koester, Connecticut; Annette Rynn, Connecticut; Melissa Tytko, Georgetown; Yulia Vtyurina.

All-BIG EAST Second Team: Christi Girton, Notre Dame; Connie Chae, St. John’s; Megan O’Brien, Villanova; Lola Opadiran, Rutgers; Ann Roberson, Connecticut; Paula Zemrowski, Pittsburgh.

BIG EAST All-Rookie Team: Marcie Bomhack, Notre Dame; Kristy Kreher, Notre Dame; Sarah Katinger, Providence; Mary Kiriakou, Rutgers; Stasha Levi, St. John’s; Yulia Vtyurina, Georgetown.

TOURNEY RECAP: With the three wins last weekend, the Irish moved to a perfect 9-0 in the BIG EAST Tournament since joining the conference in 1995.

Notre Dame began this year’s edition with a tough first round match versus host Pittsburgh. Just a week prior, the Irish had just barely squeezed by the Panthers with a 21-19 win in the fifth game. This weekend’s story was a bit different, however, Pitt did put up another good fight, winning game two, 16-14, despite one Notre Dame game point at 14-12 and an opening 7-0 run by the Irish.

Christi Girton led the team by tying a season-high with 19 kills. Marcie Bomhack, meanwhile, contributed 16 kills and Lindsay Treadwell had 10 kills and 15 digs for her 12th double-double (kills/digs) of the season.

The second game of the tournament, against the second seeded Connecticut Huskies was probably Notre Dame’s biggest win and best come back this season. Down two to none, the Irish were behind 13-12 in game three, however, Jo Jameyson (Alvin, Texas), who saw her first action of the match in game three, evened the score with an ace. Girton’s left-side kill and a UCONN hitting error, provided the Irish with life in the match and a 15-13 win in game three.

Game four was just a close, and the Huskies were actually up again late in the game with a 13-12 lead, before the Irish scored on blocks by Girton and Treadwell and a kill by Kreher.

In the rally scoring fifth, the Irish were behind once again 10-6 and then 13-10. On consecutive plays Kreher had two kills, followed by a Girton ace and then a Bomhack kill, to pull Notre Dame ahead 14-13. A Connecticut hitting error on the ensuing play then ended the match.

Saturday, November 21
Match 1: #4 Rutgers def. #5 West Virginia – 3-0
Match 2: #3 NOTRE DAME def. #6 Pittsburgh – 3-1
Semi 1: #1 Georgetown def. Rutgers – 3-1
Semi 2: #3 NOTRE DAME def. #2 Connecticut – 3-2

SUNDAY, November 22
#3 NOTRE DAME def. #1 Georgetown -3-0

USA Today/AVCA
Top 25 Poll
As of Nov. 24, 1998

 R  School                   Prev. Rank 1. Long Beach State (27-0)       1 2. Penn St. (28-0)               2 3. Nebraska (26-1)               3 4. Florida (29-2)                5 5. Stanford (24-3)               4 6. BYU (26-2)                    6 7. Hawai'i (26-2)                7 8. Wisconsin (25-4)              8 9. USC (21-4)                   1110. Pacific (22-5)                911. UCSB (24-5)                  1012. Texas (22-4)                 1213. Arkansas (26-3)              1314. Michigan St. (22-5)          1415. UCLA (14-11)                 1616. USD (22-4)                   1817. Colorado (20-6)              1518. Texas A&M (18-8)             2219. Arizona (21-6)               1920. Kansas St. (18-9)            1721. Illinois (18-10)             2022. Texas Tech (21-10)           2423. Louisville (26-4)            2324. Northern Iowa (25-2)         2525. LMU (18-8)                   21

Others: Florida State, Santa Clara, Pepperdine, Oral Roberts, Fairfield, Ball State, Sacramento State, North Carolina, Indiana, Colorado State, UNLV, Northern Illinois, South Carolina, American, Illinois State, Miami (Ohio), Minnesota, South Florida, Southwest Texas State.

Volleyball Magazine
Top 20 Poll
As of Nov. 23, 1998

 R  School                 Prev. Rank 1. Long Beach St. (27-0)       1 2. Penn State (28-0)           2 3. Florida (29-2)              7 4. Nebraska (26-1)             3 5. Stanford (24-3)             4 6. BYU (26-2)                  5 7. Hawai'i (26-2)              8 8. USC (21-4)                 11 9. UCSB (24-5)                 910. Pacific (22-5)             1011. Wisconsin (25-4)           1212. Texas (22-4)                613. Arkansas (26-3)            1414. Colorado (20-6)            1315. USD (22-4)                 1516. Michigan St. (22-5)        1617. Texas A&M (18-8)           NR18. UCLA (13-11)               1819. Pepperdine (17-9)          NR20. Northern Iowa (23-2)       20

NCAAs HERE WE COME: With the win over Georgetown on Sunday, the Irish got the conference’s automatic bid to the 64-team NCAA Championships. The team will find out who and where they will play on Sunday, November 28 at 7:30 p.m., following the NCAA selection show. The first two rounds will be played at home sites (possibly at Notre Dame) between December 3-6. This is the seventh consecutive year that the Irish have advanced to the NCAAs.

TREADWELL HONORED: Captain Lindsay Treadwell was named to the GTE Academic District V first team this past Monday. Treadwell, a three-time Dean’s List student, carries a 3.35 grade-point average in American studies.

Treadwell along with other first team members Melissa Beitz (Illinois), Michelle Kutcher (Illinois State), Marisa Mackey (Wisconsin), Amy Pickett (Butler) and Linda Resmer (Southern Illinois) will advance to the national ballot where GTE Academic All-America teams will be released on December 15.

The GTE academic teams are chosen by the College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA). Last year, Notre Dame’s Jaimie Lee was a second-team academic All-American