Oct. 19, 2007
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NOTRE DAME, Ind. – With five service aces and a pair of momentum-shifting kills, sophomore Kim Kristoff (Carmel, Ind./Brebeuf Jesuit) helped propel the University of Notre Dame volleyball team to a 3-0 (30-12, 30-13, 30-15) sweep over conference foe DePaul on Friday in the second-quickest match in the history of the Joyce Center.
Kristoff tied a career-high total in the ace category, as Notre Dame (9-9 overall, 5-3 BIG EAST) coasted to post the widest margin of victory in the program’s history. The fifty-point spread was six more than the total number of points the Irish put on the board against Loyola in 2002.
A stifling Irish defense limited DePaul (5-16 overall, 1-7 BIG EAST) to a -.034 hitting percentage for the match, including a pair of sub-.000 games. It was the first time Notre Dame held an opponent under .000 hitting since Cincinnati finished with a -.057 mark in a 2005 match. DePaul converted 22 of its 88 attempts, and Notre Dame freshman Megan Dunne (Palos Heights, Ill./Mother McAuley) was in the right spot to gather a game-high nine digs with senior Adrianna Stasiuk (Park Ridge, Ill./Maine South) collecting eight. Notre Dame finished with its highest hitting percentage of the season with a .457 clip. Each of the five Irish individuals with at least 10 attacks swung for hitting marks over .350.
For the first time since Notre Dame traveled to DePaul during the 2006 season to pick up a 3-0 win, not a single Irish player recorded double-digit kills. Both Stasiuk and freshman Kellie Sciacca (Monument, Colo./Lewis-Palmer) each had nine kills in front of 2,276 fans – the tenth-largest home crowd in Notre Dame history .
Charla Drabant was one of three Blue Demons to record a team-best five kills, joined by Jacie Fiedler and Kyndell Highland.
The Irish trailed only once in the match when they were behind, 2-1, in the second game. Two-straight errors by Caitlin Callahan gave ND a 3-2 lead, and sophomore Jamel Nicholas (Gibsonia, Pa./Pine-Richland) delivered an ace to double that margin, 8-4. Stasiuk found the gap with a liner (8-5), and then made DePaul pay on an overpass with a kill at 11-5. Sophomore Serinity Phillips (Valley Center, Calif./Valley Center) stepped up with a solo block (16-6), and several vollies later freshman Stephanie Slatt (Burien, Wash./John F. Kennedy) came through with a swift tip to set up game point for the Irish.
The closest DePaul would come within the Irish lead was two points (8-6), when Notre Dame exploded on a 12-0 scoring spree in the final game. Phillips soared above the net for a kill at 17-6, then put one down in the same spot a few points later (21-7). A backrow liner from sophomore Megan Fesl (Arlington Heights, Ill./John Hersey) gave Notre Dame a 14-point lead to work with.
Notre Dame exercised the Blue Demons early by building an 8-2 lead in game one. Stasiuk had four kills early and would finish with six in the period. She helped the Irish hitters to a .600 hitting percentage with 19 kills on 30 swings over the opening stretch. Senior Ashley Tarutis (Long Beach, Calif./Los Alamitos) notched nearly half (14) of her match-high 29 assists in the match’s opening game.
The first of three upcoming road contests for the Irish begins Oct. 23 with a non-conference match at LSU.
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