Nov. 3, 2006
WASHINGTON, D.C.- The Notre Dame volleyball team (14-10, 8-3 BIG EAST) ended its three-match losing streak with a sweep of Georgetown (7-17, 1-10 BIG EAST) on Friday, Nov. 3 at McDonough Arena in Washington, D.C. The game scores went 30-21, 30-21, 30-14.
Mallorie Croal (Villa Park, Calif./Mater Dei) led the Irish attack with 13 kills with a solid .417 hitting percentage for a match-high 15 points. She also picked up six digs and four blocks. Freshman Megan Fesl (Arlington Heights, Ill./John Hersey) also reached double figures with 10 kills. Fesl also contributed seven digs for 10.5 points Sophomore Justine Stremick (Langdon, N.D./Langdon Area) had nine kills, two digs and two blocks. Serinity Phillips (Valley Center, Calif./Valley Center) totaled six kills and nine digs. Freshman Kim Kristoff (Carmel, Ind./Brebeuf Jesuit Prep) had six kills, four digs, four blocks and a service ace. The Irish setter Ashley Tarutis (Long Beach, Calif./Los Alamitos) led the team with 29 assists and three service aces. Danielle Herndon (Plant City, Fla./Durant) added 11 digs. For the match, the Irish out hit Georgetown .356 to .121.
The Irish took control early in the first game jumping out to a 10-6 lead on the kill from Croal. The lead quickly grew to seven on a kill from Stremick 15-8. After a Georgetown time out, the Hoyas closed to three 16-13 on the kill from Jessica Buffman. The Irish countered with a 10-2 run to take the 24-14 lead on another Croal put down. Notre Dame outlasted the charging Hoyas and took the first game 30-21. In the first game the Irish out hit the Hoyas .389 to .237.
Notre Dame again took control early in the second game jumping out to 16-8 lead on the Phillips kill. The Irish advantage reached double digits on the kill from Croal at 25-15. Notre Dame again outlasted the Hoyas in the second game, finished off by a kill from Phillips for a 30-21 victory.
The third game began close and was tied at five on an Irish attacking error, before Notre Dame finally took control at 11-6 on a service ace from freshman Jamel Nicholas (Gibsonia, Pa./Pine-Richland). Back-to-back attacking errors from Georgetown extended the Irish advantage to eight. The lead quickly reached 10 on a Croal kill. Notre Dame closed the game on 10-4 run to take the game and the match 30-14 on a Herndon service ace. In the final game the Irish out hit the Hoyas .433 to -.062.
Next, the Notre Dame Fighting Irish continues the road trip with a jaunt down to Florida to take on South Florida (11-12, 6-4 BIG EAST) at 1 p.m. on Sunday, Nov. 5.
Notes: Notre Dame’s hitting percentage of .356 was the second highest of the season (behind Rutgers .415 9/23) … the Irish are 16-1 lifetime against the Hoyas … Notre Dame now leads the all-time games won between these two teams 48-11 … Croal has now led the team in kills six times this season.