Sept. 23, 2006
NEW BRUNSWICK, NEW JERSEY- The Notre Dame volleyball team (7-5, BIG EAST 1-0), behind the sizzling play of junior Adrianna Stasiuk (Park Ridge, Ill./Maine South), opened BIG EAST Conference action with a road sweep of Rutgers (3-8, BIG EAST 0-1) on Saturday afternoon, Sept. 23 by the scores of 30-23, 30-13, 30-16.
Stasiuk had a tremendous all-around performance in leading the team to its third sweep of the season. Stasiuk was the match leader with 14 kills and 10 digs while hitting at a sizzling clip of .737 (14-for-19). For Stasiuk, it was her eighth double-double of the season. Sophomore Justine Stremick (Langdon, N.D./Langdon Area) and freshman Kim Kristoff (Carmel, Ind./Brebeuf Jesuit Prep) also had solid performances. Stremick tallied seven kills and four blocks while hitting .538 (7-for-13) while Kristoff had a perfect afternoon as she tallied seven kills in as many attempts for a perfect hitting percentage of 1.000. Freshman Jamel Nicholas (Gibsonia, Pa./Pine-Richland) was the match leader with 21 assists and four service aces. For the match, the Irish out hit the Scarlet Knights .415 to .126 and out blocked them 10-5.
The Irish started off strong in the first game scoring nine of the first 10 points before the Scarlet Knights rallied to get within four on the Notre Dame service error at 10-6. Four consecutive kills capped off by one from setter Nicholas allowed the Irish to gain control again at 14-6. Notre Dame extended the lead to nine on the kill from freshman Christina Kaelin (Louisville, Ky./Assumption) at 20-11. Rutgers rallied and went on a 11-2 run, finished off on a kill from Sophie Cook, to get within one at 22-21. The Irish behind a pair of kills from Stasiuk closed the game on a 8-2 rally to win the first game 30-23.
The Irish again took early control in the second game as a Stasiuk kill increased Notre Dame’s margin to five at 7-2. The Scarlet Knights closed to within five on an Irish attack error before Rutgers began to struggle and committed an attack error and two ball handling errors on consecutive play to increase the Irish advantage to 15-6. Three more Rutgers attack errors in four possessions allowed the Irish to take control of the match and open their largest lead to that point at 21-9. Junior Ashley Tarutis (Long Beach, Calif./Los Alamitos) finished off the game for Notre Dame with a service ace for a final margin of victory of 17 points at 30-13.
The third game was back and forth, until consecutive kills from freshman Megan Fesl (Arlington Heights, Ill./John Hersey) and sophomore Mallorie Croal (Villa Park, Calif./Mater Dei) allowed the Irish to take control at 10-4. A Stasiuk kill increased the lead to nine at 16-7. The lead grew to 13 on another Stasiuk kill. After the Scarlet Knights closed to get to within nine, another Stasiuk kill ended the game and match in a Notre Dame 30-16 victory.
The win also allowed head coach Debbie Brown to creep ever closer to 500 career victories, as she is now only two away from the magical number. She now has 498 career wins between her 22 years at the helm of Arizona State and Notre Dame.
The Irish continue BIG EAST play on the East Coast with a match against Villanova (5-8) on Sunday, Sept. 24 at 2 p.m.
Notes: The match marked only the second time this season that senior Danielle Herndon (Plant City, Fla./Durant) was not the team leader in digs … Nicholas has now lead the team in assists six times this season with Tarutis leading the team in assists in the other six matches … Tarutis with her assist to Stasiuk in the third game has now passed the 3,000 career assist mark … The Irish team hitting percentage of .415 was a team season best and the highest the team has hit in a match since Nov. 2, 2005 in a 3-0 win over Saint Louis … Stasiuk’s hitting percentage of .737 on 19 attempts was the highest for a Notre Dame player, that averaged at least four attacks per game, since Malinda Goralski hit .833 against Wyoming on Sept. 22, 2000.