Oct. 21, 2005
NOTRE DAME, Ind. – Sophomore setter Ashley Tarutis (Long Beach, Calif./Los Alamitos H.S.) continued to lead an extremely efficient offense, as the ninth-ranked University of Notre Dame women’s volleyball team (17-1, 7-0 BIG EAST) swept the University of South Florida (3-15, 1-7) 30-10, 30-26, 30-20 Friday afternoon in the Joyce Center in front of a crowd of 5,541, the second-largest volleyball attendance in facility history. The Irish, who have won 10 in a row, will continue a five-match homestand on Sunday by playing host to Georgetown University at 2 p.m. (EST/CDT).
Last Saturday, Tarutis’ offense put together a historic performance, finishing with a .522 attack percentage in a 3-0 win at DePaul to mark the best hitting mark by the Irish in 20 years and the second-best in program history. That included a third-game output of 14 kills and one error on 16 attempts for an .812 hitting mark, the highest in a single game in the 15-year tenure of current Irish mentor Debbie Brown.
On Friday, Notre Dame put together a worthy encore to that, hitting over .410 in every game and ending with a .451 attack percentage. The Irish had 52 kills (17.33 per game) and only six errors – matching a season low – on 102 attempts. Tarutis had a bevy of hot hitters, as seven players registered three or more kills and six of them hit over .440. The ND sophomore finished with 39 assists, as well as seven digs while adding a pair of kills. She boasts a 37-9 (.804) career record as a starter and has led ND to hitting marks over .300 on 11 occasions.
Senior All-American MB Lauren Brewster (Brentwood, Tenn./Brentwood H.S.) led all players with 12 kills and did not make an error on 22 swings for a .545 hitting mark. That matched her season high in attack percentage (also done at DePaul) and was the fifth consecutive contest in which she has hit .320 or better. Brewster, who hit .500+ for the 16th time in her career, is averaging 4.12 kills per game on .448 hitting over the past five matches.
Sophomore OH Adrianna Stasiuk (Park Ridge, Ill./Maine South H.S.) continued her strong all-around play on Friday, finishing with nine kills on 17 swings for a .471 hitting mark. She also had a match-high 13 digs, plus four blocks – highlighted by a career-best three of the solo variety – as well as a pair of service aces and three assists. Stasiuk posted a match-high 14.5 points.
Sophomore OH Ellen Heintzman (Louisville, Ky./Sacred Heart Academy) played in just two games, but still finished with nine kills on a career-high .467 attacking mark. Senior OH Lauren Kelbley (Bascom, Ohio/Hopewell-Loudon H.S.) also notched nine kills, on .444 hitting.
Senior MB Carolyn Cooper (Houston, Texas/Lutheran South Academy) added five kills on eight errorless swings (.625), and sophomore Justine Stremick (Langdon, N.D./Langdon Area H.S.) posted a collegiate-high three kills on five attempts (.600).
Defensively, Notre Dame was strong, as well, holding USF to 37 kills (12.33 per game) and 27 errors for a .085 attack percentage. Stasiuk led that effort, while senior co-captain and libero Meg Henican (New Orleans/La./Isidore Newman H.S.) had 11 digs. Stasiuk and Brewster took part in four blocks apiece.
The match was played before the pep rally for the Notre Dame-Brigham Young football game, which will be contested on Saturday. The only time ND has had a larger home crowd for a volleyball match was on Nov. 7, 2003, against Virginia Tech in another pre-pep rally performance that drew 8,643.
Friday’s contest also made history as the first Notre Dame home volleyball match ever to feature streaming video, as subscribers to Fighting Irish All-Access were treated to video in addition to the live audio call of Stephen Hinkel and Chris Masters. It was the second straight Irish match to feature streaming video, as ND’s 3-1 win at Illinois State on Monday had streaming video on the Redbirds’ web site. For details on Fighting Irish All-Access, see und.com.
Notre Dame has won 10 consecutive matches for the seventh time in program history, all in the last 20 years. It is the longest winning streak for the Irish since they won 14 in a row in 2003.
This was the first-ever match between the Irish and the Bulls in women’s volleyball.
USF was led by sophomore MB/RS Kristina Fabris and junior RS/OH Johari Williams, who both finished with a team-high 10 kills. Defensively, the Bulls got nine digs from junior L/DS Ashley Reavis.
The Irish wasted little time in game one, using a big run on Stasiuk’s serve to open up an 8-2 edge that would grow to 18-4 before the Bulls added some late points. USF scored back-to-back points on just two occasions, and Notre Dame matched its second-largest margin of victory in a game ever. The Irish also beat DePaul 30-10 in the third game last Saturday, while the most-lopsided ND victory was a 30-8 win over St. John’s in 2001. Heintzman led the charge in the opening game with seven kills on 10 swings, while Brewster added five kills and Henican had seven digs. Stasiuk’s serve was a major factor, as she served for seven consecutive points early on and then served up six more in her next time up in the rotation. USF managed just five kills and 10 errors for a -.132 hitting mark, while ND had 22 digs. The Irish had 19 kills on .459 hitting.
Game two was much closer, and it featured six tie scores, though ND took the lead at 4-3 and never relinquished it. The Irish went up by as many as five on several occasions, but could not pull away. USF used its largest run of the match to that point, four straight points, to pull within one at 27-26, but Notre Dame got a solo block from Stasiuk to end the game. Brewster had five more kills in the game, which saw ND hit .417, pounding 18 kills while making three errors – its most in any game.
Six serves by Kelbley early in the final game put ND in control for good, and the Irish would go up by as many as 13 (25-12 and 27-14) en route to putting the match away. USF made a late run, winning five straight points, but a Stasiuk kill and a Kelbley ace ended the affair. Stasiuk added five more kills and a pair of aces in the game.
USF (3-15, 1-7) 10-26-20#9 Notre Dame (17-1, 7-0) 30-30-30
Kills: USF 37 (Fabris & Williams, 10), ND 52 (Brewster 12)Attack Percentage: USF .085 (Reavis .250), ND .451 (Cooper .625)Assists: USF 31 (Verhoff 28), ND 48 (Tarutis 39)Service Aces-Errors: USF 2-3 (Verhoff 2), ND 5-9 (Stasiuk 2)Digs: USF 37 (Reavis 9), ND 46 (Stasiuk 13)Blocks: USF 2 (four with 1), ND 10 (Stasiuk & Brewster 4)Points: USF 41 (Fabris & Williams 10.5), ND 67 (Stasiuk 14.5)Attendance: 5,541