Oct. 6, 2006
NOTRE DAME, Ind.- Junior Adrianna Stasiuk (Park Ridge, Ill./Maine South) tallied her 11th double-double of the season, as the Notre Dame volleyball team (10-5, 4-0 BIG EAST) outlasted a feisty Marquette squad (7-9, 3-2 BIG EAST) in four games at the Joyce Center on Friday afternoon, Oct. 6. Game scores were 30-17, 30-17, 30-21, 30-24. Upon completion of the match, head coach Debbie Brown was recognized for her 500th victory, achieved on Sept. 30 against Seton Hall in New Jersey, with a ceremonial plaque commemorating her historic victory. She is just the 28th volleyball coach to ever achieve 500 or more wins in a career.
Stasiuk continue her great play by leading the team in kills with 13 for fifth time in the last seven matches. Stasiuk also tallied double figures in digs (20), for the fifth consecutive match and 13th time this season. For the junior it was her 11th double-double of the season and the 35th time in her career that she has reached double figures in kills and digs in the same match. Stasiuk also contributed a season/career-best six service aces and four blocks. The six service aces were tied for second most tallied in a four-game match. Freshman Megan Fesl (Arlington Heights, Ill./John Hersey) had a steady performance with 12 kills and five digs. Fellow rookie, Serinity Phillips (Valley Center, Calif./Valley Center) put a solid effort together with nine kills on a .318 hitting percentage. Sophomore Justine Stremick (Langdon, N.D./Langdon) controlled the middle with six blocks to go with seven kills for a .538 hitting percentage. Sophomore Mallorie Croal came off the bench with nine kills, two service aces, four digs and two blocks. Senior Danielle Herndon (Plant City, Fla./Durant) was the team leader for the 12th time this season with 23 digs. Both Irish setters, junior Ashley Tarutis (Long Beach, Calif./Los Alamitos) and freshman Jamel Nicholas (Gibsonia, Pa./Pine-Richland) did an efficient job of directing the offense. Tarutis led the team with 30 assists, while Nicholas tallied 24 helpers. For the match Notre Dame out hit the pesky Golden Eagles .241 to .164.
Notre Dame started the first game well, opening up a 6-3 lead on a Phillips kill. The Irish extended the lead to 17-9 on a Stasiuk kill. The lead kept growing and reached 12 on the kill from Croal at 25-13. The Irish finished off the first game on another Stasiuk kill.
The second game was all Irish from the beginning, as a Fesl kill gave Notre Dame a 13-5 advantage. The Notre Dame lead reached 13 on a Stremick kill at 23-10. Two Fesl kills in three possessions closed the second game out in a 30-17 Notre Dame victory.
The third game started in similar manner as the first two as a freshman Christina Kaelin (Louisville, Ky./Assumption) kill opened up a three point Irish lead, but the Golden Eagles rallied and tied the game up at 11. A Tiffany Helmbrecht kill gave MU its first lead of the game at 12-11. Momentum was clearly shifting; as Marquette opened up a five-point lead on a Kimberly Todd’s kill. The lead grew to six on another Helmbrecht kill before two straight Notre Dame attacking errors gave Marquette a game three victory 30-21.
Marquette, clearly with momentum in their favor, opened the fourth game on a 6-0 spurt. The Irish rallied and went on a 7-1 run capped off by a Phillips kill. The Golden Eagles were not rattled by the Irish run nor the ever growing Notre Dame crowd, as fans began to pile in to the Joyce Center in anticipation of the football pep rally to follow, and took a 11-9 lead on another Todd kill. The Irish composed themselves and took control of the match and the lead on a Stasiuk service ace at 13-12. The Irish lead grew to five on a Golden Eagles’ attack error at 20-15. MU had one more run in them and got within three at 27-24, before a Croal kill finished off the game and match in a 30-24 Notre Dame victory.
The Irish continued the brief three-match home stand with the middle match against BIG EAST rival Syracuse on Sunday, Oct. 8 at 1 p.m.
Notes: Notre Dame and Coach Brown are now 9-0 lifetime against Marquette … the Irish are now 5-0 this season in four-game sets … Stasiuk has now tallied 20 digs in match twice this season (also against Valparaiso, Sept. 1) … this was the second time this season that the Irish have had multiple players with 20+ digs (also Stasiuk and Herndon on Sept. 2) … this was the third time this year that both Nicholas and Tarutis have tallied 20+ assists in the same match.