Sept. 1, 2011
Stanford Invitational (tournament page) | Gameday Program
NOTRE DAME, Ind. – Notre Dame will take part in the Stanford Invitational (Sept. 2-3) with bouts scheduled against the sixth-ranked host Cardinal and St. Mary’s. The Irish enter the weekend with a 3-0 record after sweeping the competition at the season-opening Shamrock Invitational.
Stanford Invitational – Sept. 2-3
Maples Pavilion – Stanford, Calif.
Notre Dame Fighting Irish (3-0 overall – 0-0 BIG EAST)
[und.com – bigeast.org]
No. 6 Stanford Cardinal (2-0 overall – 0-0 Pacific 12)
Friday, Sept. 2 – 7:00 p.m. (PT)
[gostanford.com – pac-12.org]
Series: Stanford leads, 6-1
Series streak: Notre Dame, W1
First meeting: Stanford, 3-1 (9.7.88)
Last meeting: Notre Dame, 3-0 (8.29.09)
St. Mary’s Gaels (1-2 overall – 0-0 West Coast)
Saturday, Sept. 3 – 7:00 p.m. (PT)
[smcgaels.com – wccsports.com]
[1-2 overall – 0-0 West Coast]
Series: First meeting
Following the Irish
Live stats: UND.com
Live audio: UND.com (Notre Dame vs. Stanford only)
Live video: UND.com (Notre Dame vs. Stanford only)
Facebook: facebook.com/NotreDameAthletics, facebook.com/NDvolleyball
Twitter: @UND_com, @NDvolleyball, @NDcoachBrown
Blog: UND.com/blog
Bump, Set, Spike
– Notre Dame opened the season with three wins at the Shamrock Invitational (Aug. 26-28) for its best start to a campaign since 2006 … Notre Dame dropped the second set in each of its 3-1 wins over Eastern Michigan, Idaho and Butler.
– Senior Frenchy Silva, junior Hilary Eppink and sophomore Andrea McHugh were each named to the Shamrock Invitational All-Tournament team … in fact, McHugh was named the tournament’s MVP before shelving Player of the Week honors from the BIG EAST Conference … McHugh led the Irish with 58 kills in three tournament matches and posted a career-best 25 kills to go along with 13 digs against Idaho … McHugh averaged 4.83 kills and 3.92 digs/set while recording double-digit kills in all three weekend matches.
– A 22-dig performance against Butler (Aug. 28) put Frenchy Silva over the 1,000-mark for her career … now with 1,010 career scoops, Silva ranks 11th on Notre Dame’s all-time list … what’s more, Silva’s 3.29 digs/set average is fourth all-time, and senior Kristen Dealy’s 3.04 digs/set clip ranks fifth … that makes the duo the only classmates ever to rank among the top 10 in digs/set.
– Kristen Dealy is approaching a milestone only achieved by seven players in Irish history … Dealy currently has 959 career kills and 990 digs, as she is set to be the first player to join the 1,000/1,000 club since Adrianna Stasiuk did so in 2007.
– Notre Dame and Stanford will be meeting for the eighth time overall after last going head-to-head in 2009 … in that match, for just the second time in program history – and the first since 1993 – Notre Dame earned a win over a top-five opponent when the Irish dealt (then) No. 5 Stanford a 3-0 defeat … the 1,843 fans in attendance to watch Notre Dame knock off Stanford was the largest crowd to view a volleyball game in the Joyce Center Fieldhouse and the 15th-largest crowd overall in Irish history … this will be the first meeting between Notre Dame and St. Mary’s … St. Mary’s head coach Rob Browning headed the U.S. Junior National Team during this past summer’s FIVB World Championships held in Peru … among the players on that team’s roster was Andrea McHugh.
– With an Aug. 26 win over Eastern Michigan to begin the 2011 campaign, Notre Dame is 25-7 (20-1 under head coach Debbie Brown) in home openers.
– The Irish are receiving votes (15) in the AVCA Top 25 Poll released Aug. 29 … Stanford is ranked sixth while St. Mary’s is receiving votes (8).
– Notre Dame was picked to finish second in league play according to the BIG EAST Preseason Coaches Poll … the Irish received one first-place vote.
– Co-captains for the 2011 season will be Kristen Dealy and Frenchy Silva.
– Kristen Dealy was a preseason all-BIG EAST choice along with Andrea McHugh.
–ND–