Oct. 20, 2006
NOTRE DAME, Ind.- Freshman outside hitter Serinity Phillips (Valley Center, Calif./Valley Center) led the attack with a match-high 16 kills, as the University of Notre Dame (13-7, 7-0 BIG EAST) swept Connecticut (13-9, 2-5 BIG EAST) on Friday, Oct. 20 at the Joyce Center. The game scores went 30-12, 30-24, 30-27. The Irish have now swept their last two BIG EAST Conference matches and improved to 2-0 this season in pre-pep rally matches.
With her 16 kills Phillips not only was the match leader, but she also set a new career best (eclipsing the 13 she had against Villanova on Sept. 24). Phillips also had an outstanding hitting percentage of .500, as she was 16-for-28 with only two errors. The rookie also blocked four shots in setting another career best with 18.5 points. Fellow rookie Christina Kaelin (Louisville, Ky./Assumption) had a steady effort with eight kills and a dig. Sophomore Mallorie Croal (Villa Park, Calif./Mater Dei) had seven kills, six digs and a match-high three service aces. Middle blocker Kim Kristoff (Carmel, Ind./Brebeuf Jesuit Prep) totaled six kills, five digs and four blocks. Junior Adrianna Stasiuk had another good all-around effort with six kills, a service ace, 15 digs and five blocks. Four of Stasiuk’s five blocks were solo efforts, which was a season best and tied her career-high (Georgetown, Oct. 23, 2005). Senior Danielle Herndon (Plant City, Fla./Durant) also reached double figures in digs with 11. Both Irish setter reached double digits in assists. Junior Ashley Tarutis (Long Beach, Calif./Los Alamitos) led the team with 30 assists, while freshman Jamel Nicholas (Gibsonia, Pa./Pine-Richland) tallied 15 helpers and eight digs. The Irish out hit the Huskies .300 to .116 and out blocked them 10-4.
The early going of the first game was very competitive, until the Irish took control at 9-7 on a kill from sophomore Justine Stremick (Langdon, N.D./Langdon Area). Another kill from Stremick finished off the 5-0 run and gave Notre Dame a 14-7 advantage. Notre Dame extended its advantage to eight on a kill from Croal at 19-11. Croal served for six consecutive points, aided by four attacking errors from the Huskies, to extend the lead to 13 at 24-11. The Irish didn’t look back and ended the first game on a 6-1 run finished off by five consecutive serving points from Kristoff.
Connecticut rallied in the second game and briefly held an 8-6 advantage, after a kill from Bridget Denson-Dorman. Notre Dame then rallied and took an 11-8 lead on three straight attacking errors from UConn. The Irish lead grew to seven on kill from Kristoff at 17-10. The Notre Dame advantage reached double digits on a kill from Kaelin 23-13. A 7-3 run by Connecticut tightened the Irish lead to just six. Sophomore Madison Clark (Sturgis, Mich./Sturgis) picked up a big point serving to inch the Irish closer at 28-20. Notre Dame outlasted the hard charging Huskies to take the second game 30-24 on a game-winning kill from Stasiuk.
The Irish exploded out of the gates in the third game, jumping out to an 8-1 lead finished off by a Kristoff kill. A Phillips kill extended the lead to high as nine at 17-8, before Connecticut rallied and went on a 12-6 run highlighted by a pair of kills from Lorelle Schaub to get within three and force a Notre Dame stoppage of play. The timeout couldn’t cool off the Huskies, as they tied the game on a Notre Dame attacking error. Freshman Megan Fesl (Arlington Heights, Ill./John Hersey) briefly gave Notre Dame the lead at 24-23, only to see the Huskies tie the game the next play. Kaelin gave Notre Dame the lead for good on the next point at 25-24. The Irish lead grew to three on an attacking error from the Huskies, only to see Connecticut creep within one on a kill from Sarah Singer. Notre Dame, in some now tense moments, won the game and match on an attacking error from the Huskies at 30-27.
The Irish will have one more match this weekend at the Joyce Center against St. John’s (21-1, 6-0 BIG EAST) at 2 p.m. on Sunday, Oct. 22. The match will tape delayed by Comcast Local and shown on Thursday, Oct. 28 at 8 p.m. on Comcast.
Notes: This was the second time that Phillips has led the team in kills (she tied for the team lead with nine against DePaul on Oct. 13) … the win snaps Notre Dame’s two match losing streak … the Irish have still yet to lose more than consecutive matches since Sept. 3, 2004-Sept. 7, 2004 when they fell to No. 2 Nebraska twice and Valparaiso … the Irish have now won 13 consecutive matches over UConn … Notre Dame is 71-1 all-time against BIG EAST opponents in the regular season at the Joyce Center.