Nov. 19, 2006
CINCINNATI, Ohio- The fifth-seeded Notre Dame volleyball team (18-12, 10-4 BIG EAST) fell to second-seeded Louisville (23-6, 13-1 BIG EAST) in the thrilling five-game championship match of the 2006 BIG EAST Championship on Sunday, Nov. 19 at Fifth/Third Arena in Cincinnati, Ohio. The game scores went 30-26, 30-25, 24-30, 17-30, 12-15.
Freshman Christina Kaelin (Louisville, Ky./Assumption) led the attack with 18 kills. Fellow freshman Serinity Phillips (Valley Center, Calif./Valley Center) also had a great effort with 14 kills and four blocks. Mallorie Croal (Villa Park, Calif./Mater Dei) totaled her seventh double-double with 12 kills and 14 digs. Sophomore Justine Stremick (Langdon, N.D./Langdon Area) aided the Irish control the nets with seven blocks and six kills. Both Irish setters reached double figures in assists. Junior Ashley Tarutis (Long Beach, Calif./Los Alamitos) tallied 31 assists while freshman Jamel Nicholas (Gibsonia, Pa./Pine-Richland) had 27 helpers. Junior Adrianna Stasiuk (Park Ridge, Ill./Maine South) had her 17th double-double of the season with 13 kills and 12 digs.
Louisville started strong in the first game, jumping out to a 4-1 lead on the kill from Ana Stewart. Notre Dame caught the Cardinal at six on the solo block from Phillips. The two teams continued to jockey for position going into the first media timeout with Notre Dame holding a slim 15-13 lead. After the stoppage of play, Notre Dame continued to play with a sense of purpose and opened up a three-point lead on the Kaelin kill. Notre Dame’s advantage reached five on the Stasiuk kill at 27-22. The Cardinal would rally though and got within three on the Notre Dame attacking error at 28-25. Kaelin would finish off the Irish 30-26 win with a pounding past the Louisville defense. Freshman Kim Kristoff (Carmel, Ind./Brebeuf Jesuit Academy) played a solid first game with four kills while hitting .800 from the field. The Irish held a team hitting percentage advantage of .318 to .256.
A Kaelin, kill early in the second game, gave Notre Dame a 3-0 lead. The Cardinals closed to within one at 6-5, only to see Kaelin tally three straight kills to extend the Notre Dame lead to four. Notre Dame, after a Louisville timeout, would continue to roll with back-to-back Croal kills to extend the lead to seven at 12-5. The Irish lead reached 11 at 17-6 on the block assist from Kristoff and Phillips. A 10-5 Louisville run put the Cardinals right back in the game at 23-16. Down the stretch Phillips stepped up and recorded two kills in three possessions to put Notre Dame on the door step of a game victory. Facing game point, Louisville would rally and go on a 5-0 run to creep to within four at 29-25. After a timeout to calm the nerves, Stremick ended the game for Notre Dame with a kill. Neither team hit well in the second game but Notre Dame still held a slight .113 to .000 edge over the Cardinals.
The third game opened tight with both teams feeling the other out. Louisville took a three-point lead on the block assist from Stephanie Marsh and Lecia Brown at 9-6. Freshman Megan Fesl (Arlington Height, Ill./John Hersey) and Stremick tied the game at nine on a block assist. Just as quick a 3-0 Louisville run gave the Cardinals the lead back at 12-9. A well-placed kill from setter Samantha Dabbs allowed the Cardinals to open up their largest lead of the game at 18-13 and forced a Notre Dame timeout. Louisville’s lead reached eight on the kill from Tatyana Kolesnikova at 22-14. The Irish, now facing a game point, got a kill from Kristoff and a block assist from Stasiuk and Stremick to inch within five at 29-24, but it was not enough as Marsh finished Notre Dame off with kill to take game three 30-24.
Louisville took control of the fourth game early, on the back-to-back kills from Svetlana Dukule at 5-1. Notre Dame would rally and tied the game at six on the Phillips kill. The teams continued to go back-and-forth until Louisville opened a four-point lead on the ace from Kolesnikova at 15-11. A Notre Dame timeout did little to slow the hard charging Cardinal, who took a six-point lead at 17-11 on the Brown and Dukule block assist. The Cardinal advantage reached 10 on the Marsh ace at 23-13. The Cardinals finished the game on a 7-4 run to take the fourth game and bring on a pivotal fifth game for a berth in the NCAA Volleyball Tournament. Louisville outhit Notre Dame .457 to .167 in the fourth game.
The Cardinals building on the momentum of the previous two games, jumped out to a 5-1 lead on the kill from Stewart. The Irish continued to hang around and closed to within two on the Louisville attacking error at 6-4. A Kolesnikova kill gave Louisville a three-point advantage 9-6. Kaelin finally tied the game up at 10 all with a kill going left to right. After a timeout, Louisville took a three-point lead on Dukule’s back-to-back kills at 13-10. The Irish would rally and get within two on the kill from Stremick, but it was as close as Notre Dame could get in a 15-12 heartbreaking defeat.
Notre Dame will have one more regular season match against No. 18 Ohio on Nov. 24 at 5 p.m. in Louisville as part of the Louisville Invitational.
Notes: Notre Dame is 14-5 all-time against Louisville … Notre Dame falls to 1-7 in television matches this season … Croal had a double-double in each of the three matches of the BIG EAST Championship.