Sept. 23, 2007
Final Stats
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MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – Senior Adrianna Stasiuk (Park Ridge, Ill./Maine South), who was making her second start this season at the libero position, entered Sunday’s match at West Virginia sixth on the school’s all-time dig list. That was until her 17 scoops in the Notre Dame volleyball team’s 3-1 win against the Mountaineers put her ahead of fifth-place Danielle Herndon (2003-06).
Stasiuk now has 1,268 career ups, and after posting her second 10+ dig match in as many days, she is now tied with Christy Peters (1991-94) for second-place on the list for 10+ dig matches in a career (79).
The scores went 30-19, 23-30, 30-27, 30-27 in favor of the Irish (5-7 overall, 1-1 BIG EAST) as they wrapped up their first weekend of conference action at the WVU Coliseum.
The Fighting Irish collectively hit .175 in the match, while holding the Mountaineers to a .114 team attack percentage. WVU (9-5 overall, 1-1 BIG EAST) was also held to a .000 mark in the final game.
Sixteen kills and only three errors led to a .302 hitting percentage for Notre Dame to kick off the match in game one. Senior Ashley Tarutis (Long Beach, Calif./Los Alamitos) led the offensive attack with 11 assists, and was aided by five kills by both junior Justine Stremick (Langdon Area, N.D./Langdon Area) and sophomore Serinity Phillips (Valley Center, Calif./Valley Center).
Phillips finished with a career-high 23 kills and had 11 digs in the double-double effort.
Tarutis – who also turned in a double-double for the Irish – helped keep WVU scoreless early when her pancake lengthened play and led to a Mountaineer attack error to set the table at 3-0. Her dump shot put the Irish on top by five at 11-6. ND was able to build a comfortable lead for the duration of the game, with Stremick throwing down an unassisted kill (29-19) before teaming on a block with Tarutis to end the frame.
Momentum took a turn in the ensuing game as Notre Dame could not seem to find its rhythm. WVU took the lead in game two with a block by Abby Tevis and Lisa Hough to make the count 6-5 and added another score on an Irish error one point later. Sophomore Jamel Nicholas (Gibsonia, Pa./Pine-Richland) laid down a kill to knot the count at 7-7 before the Mountaineers mounted a 10-4 scoring jolt to take a 17-11 lead and keep the game out of ND’s reach. Phillips had six slams in the period.
WVU’s Kristina Gallahan copped an ace to tie the penultimate frame, 8-8, but Notre Dame found its groove and took a four-point edge, 17-13, when Sciacca and Phillips teamed for a block. WVU staged a three-point rally to go up, 20-19, but failed to further separate itself as the Irish caught a break when Stasiuk unleashed two kills to swing the score back in favor of her squad, 23-21. She later darted an ace in the heart of the WVU defense (25-22), and Megan Fesl (Arlington Heights, Ill./John Hersey) soon put down a kill then joined Sciacca for a block party to win the game point.
The Irish recovered from their hitting hangover in game two (.071) with a .303 team mark in the third frame. Phillips and Stasiuk each knocked down five kills over the stretch.
ND trailed, 7-2, in the young stages of game four and fought back to force a 9-9 score. The teams traded leads for the remainder of the game, but Notre Dame pepped its step on a soaring backrow attack by Phillips to tie it at 20-20. Phillips added a tip, solo block, and two late kills to help the Irish capture the win.
–ND–