LUBBOCK, Texas – The moment we’ve all been patiently waiting for: the Notre Dame Fighting Irish volleyball team opens up their 2023 season this weekend. Head coach Salima Rockwell’s second year at the helm of the program kicks off in Lubbock, TX as the Irish compete in the 2023 Under Armour Challenge, hosted by Texas Tech.
The Irish are one of five teams in the tournament as they’re joined by Houston Christian, Abilene Christian, Wichita State, and Texas Tech. Notre Dame will take on the Wichita State Shockers on Friday, August 25 at 2:30 p.m. ET. On Saturday, August 26, Notre Dame will take on Texas Tech for the second year in a row after opening up against the Red Raiders at home last season.
Friday, August 25 – Notre Dame vs. Wichita State – 2:30 p.m. ET | Live Stats | ESPN+
Saturday, August 26 – Notre Dame @ Texas Tech – 8 p.m. ET | Live Stats | ESPN+
Notre Dame Volleyball Game Notes
HISTORY VS. WICHITA STATE
- This will be the first match up in program history between the Irish and the Wichita State Shockers.
- The Shockers are coming off of a 18-13 finish in the 2022 season, where they fiinished fourth in the American Athletic Conference with a record of 13-6.
- Wichita State closed out the 2022 season winning seven of their last eight matches.
HISTORY VS. TEXAS TECH
- This will be just the second matchup between the Irish and the Red Raiders after playing for the first time in program history at Purcell Pavilion last season.
- The Irish opened up the 2022 season at home against Texas Tech in the Irish Invitational on August 26.
- Notre Dame fell 1-3 (16-25, 25-18, 17-25, 19- 25), dropping to 0-1 to start the year.
- The Irish were led by Avery Ross, who made her freshman debut agaisnt the Red Raiders. She tallied 13 kills and six digs to start her Irish campaign.
- Freshman Harmony Sample made her debut in an Irish uniform as well, where she recorded six kills, 13 digs, and 16 assists.
- Phyona Schrader also chipped in eight kills, seven digs, and 16 assists for the Irish.
MEET THE FRESHMEN
- Five freshmen join the Irish for the 2023 season. Freshmen additions include Alyssa Manitzas, Lily Fenton, Logan Brannan, Olivia Maulding, and Ava Lange.
- Manitzas was a part of the Under Armour All-American game and was also named the 2021 Prep Dig Top Libero in Texas. The San Antonio, TX native is the all-time dig leader at Cornerstone Christian High School.
- Fenton was a First Team All-Conference and All-District player out of Latrobe, PA. Fenton was a three-year captain and was the Greater Latrobe High School program all-time assist leader.
- Brannan hails from Lake Travis High School in Austin, TX and was a First Team All-District and TGCA All-State honoree.
- A gradute of La Salle Prep, Maulding was named the 2022 Northwest Oregon Co-player of the Year, while also being named to the 2022 Oregon State Championship All-Tournament Team. Maulding was recognized as the 2022 Volleyball Magazine Top Performer in Oregon.
- Lange was a nationally recognized four star player out of Playa Del Rey, CA, who was named to the AVCA All-America Watch List and played in the 2022 USAV Girls 17’s Junior National Championship.
MEET THE TRANSFERS
- Two transfers join the Irish for the 2023 season. Sydney Palazzollo enters into her junior season after spending freshman and sophomore year at High Point. Nicole Drewnick is a graduate transfer hailing from Georgia Tech.
- Palazollo had a decorated two seasons in North Carolina, earning a plethora of awards at High Point.
- Last season, Palazollo earned Big South Player of the Year and Big South First Team All-Conference honors and was named the Big South All-Tournament MVP. She was recognized as an AVCA Honorable Mention All-Region player and an AVCA Honorable Mention All-American. She was also tabbed as the Big South Player of the Week three times.
- Palazzolo finished her sophomore season with a team-best 443 kills, 321 digs, 27 blocks, and led the conference with 42 service aces.
- Not only was she recognized as the Big South Freshman of the Year in 2021, but she was also named to the Big South All-Conference Second Team and All-Freshman Team.
- While Drewnick spent her freshman season at Nebraska, she most recently has spent the last two seasons with Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets.
- Drewnick appeared in 20 matches and 43 sets last season with the Yellow Jackets and finished the season with 99 assists and 16 digs.
RETURNERS
- The Irish return six rising sophomore, a pair of rising juniors, and a trio of rising seniors.
- Sophomores Lucy Trump and Avery Ross were offensive power houses for the Irish last season as both outside hitters led Notre Dame in their first years in an Irish uniform. Trump led the way with 252 kills, followed by Ross with 227 kills.
- Juniors Phyona Schrader and Paris Thompson return for their third seasons at Notre Dame. Thompson returns after tallying 148 kills and 71 digs across 63 sets last season.
- Schrader led the Irish last season with 877 assists and was second on the team with 333 digs. The setter also led the ACC with two triple-doubles and finished second in the conference with 17 double-doubles.
- Hattie Monson, Lauren Tarnoff, and Charity McDowell are rising seniors for the Irish after playing in a combined 259 sets as a class last season.
- Monson played in all 108 sets for the Irish as the libero recorded 453 digs in her junior campaign, while also surpassing the 1,000 career digs mark. She heads into her senior season with 1,163 career digs.
- Both Tarnoff and McDowell return as middle blockers for the Irish as the duo finished with 141 combined blocks; Tarnoff was second on the team with 80 blocks and McDowell was third with 61. Tarnoff also led the Irish with a team-best 15 solo blocks.
SALIMA ROCKWELL
- Salima Rockwell heads into her second year at the helm of the program after finishing year one with a record of 10-18.
- Rockwell, a four-time national champion coach and three-time All-American, is the seventh head coach in Notre Dame volleyball history.
- For the past three years, Rockwell has served as a color commentator for ESPN, Fox Sports, Big Ten Network and CBS Sports.
- Rockwell spent nine years coaching at her alma mater, Penn State University, holding titles of associate head coach, assistant coach and director of operations over two different stints in Happy Valley (2006-2009 and 2015-17).
- As a student-athlete, Rockwell was a three-time All-American setter, was named to the NCAA Championship All-Tournament team, helped guide the Nittany Lions to an NCAA Championship runner-up finish, was four-time All-Big Ten honoree, and led Penn State to Big Ten championships in 1992 and 1993.
- Rockwell’s name is peppered throughout the legendary Penn State record books – ranking sixth all-time on the program’s career assists list (5,455) and eighth on the career digs chart (1,278). She is an inductee into the Pennsylvania Volleyball Coaches Hall of Fame.
- Between her two coaching tours at Penn State, Rockwell also spent five seasons (2009-2013) at the University of Texas. While in Austin, she helped lead the Longhorns to the 2012 National Championship title, its first in almost 25 years.
YEAR TWO WITH THE STAFF
- Sara Matthews and Craig Dyer return as associate head coaches for the Irish for their second year with the program.
- Matthews, a standout player at James Madison and Kansas, came to South Bend after spending the past five seasons as the head coach at the University of Delaware.
- Dyer joined the program after spending the past four seasons at Creighton, with previous stops at Penn State, Pittsburgh, Marquette, Seton Hall and Rutgers. He’s worked with several All-Americans during his time at Creighton and was part of the 2019 BIG EAST Coaching Staff of the Year.
- Paul Koncir joined as a video and data analytics technical coordinator for his first season with the Irish in 2022 and was promoted to assistant coach ahead of the 2023 season.
- Koncir joins the Notre Dame Volleyball family after spending the past two seasons with the Michigan State Spartans as an associate head coach. Prior to MSU, Koncir had spent eight seasons with Indiana.
- Mackenzie Keenan is in her second year as the operations specialist for the Irish. Keenan joined the program after spending nearly the past seven seasons at Texas Christian University. She worked as the TCU volleyball director of volleyball operations after having spent time as the volleyball graduate assistant.