September 11, 1998

MADISON, Wisc. — Unable to start its offense, the Notre Dame women’s volleyball team (2-2) lost to Wisconsin, 15-2, 15-5 and 15-6 before more than 1,700 fans in the Irish’s first game of the Wisconsin Inntowner Invitational.

The Irish finished the game by hitting .025, their lowest hitting percentage of the season, and were outdug by the Badgers 57-39. Senior Lindsay Treadwell (Austin, Texas) led Notre Dame in kills with six and in digs with nine, while Badgers Kate Fitzgerald, Keylee Wright and Sherisa Livingston led their team with nine kills apiece. The match was billed as a rematch from the 1997 NCAA Central Regional match, which Wisconsin also won 3-1.

In game one of tonight’s match, bad passing hurt the Irish on several occasions. The Badgers scored the first point of the match after a long rally, with Notre Dame tying the score at 1-1 on a Wisconsin net violation. The Badgers, however, took advantage of two Notre Dame hitting errors and a bad pass to jump out with the next three points. After another Wisconsin point, a hitting error by Kate Fitzgerald gave the Irish their last point of the game with the score now at 2-5. The eighth-ranked Badgers then rolled out the next 10 points to win the first game 15-2.

Heading into game two, Irish head coach Debbie Brown inserted freshman Marcie Bomhack (Waukesha, Wisc.) into the lineup for junior Mandi Powell (Monrovia, Ind.), hoping to spark her team. Notre Dame took its first lead of the match on the first play when Bomhack and Jo Jameyson (Alvin, Texas) blocked a Wisconsin hitting attempt. The Badgers tied the score at 1-1 when Bomhack hit the ball into the block. After five sideouts, Notre Dame again took the lead on a kill by sophomore setter Denise Boylan (Lisle, Ill.). Behind the serving of Keylee Wright, the Badgers took over the lead and scored four straight points, capped by a Schiebout hitting error which made the score 5-2. A bad Notre Dame pass by Girton, two hitting errors by Jameyson and one by Christi Girton (Muncie, Ind.), pushed the lead to 9-2 in favor of Wisconsin. The Irish gave up one more point before scoring two of their own on the serve of Jameyson. The Irish’s final point of the game came at, 4-12, on a Wisconsin hitting error. Two consecutive Badger blocks ended the game at 15-5.

Game three saw Brown insert a new lineup of three freshman and one sophomore, junior and senior. Wisconsin took advantage of Notre Dame’s youth, scoring the first four points. Notre Dame responded with a point on the fifth play of the game, but did not score until sometime later on the jump serve of sophomore Adrienne Shimmel (Mission Viejo, Calif.). Shimmel served five of her team’s six points, before Wisconsin won the game and match with a 15-6 score.

Notre Dame will play against Indiana in its final match of the Wisconsin Inntowner Invitational Saturday at 5 p.m.