Nov. 17, 2002
The University of Notre Dame volleyball team (21-7, 11-2) dropped its second straight BIG EAST Conference match of the weekend in a three-game loss (30-27, 37-35, 30-27) to Virginia Tech (20-10, 10-3) on Sunday afternoon.
Even though the regular-season ended on a down note for Notre Dame, they have secured the #1 seed in the BIG EAST Championship next weekend in Pittsburgh, Pa., at Fitzgerald Fieldhouse. Notre Dame will take on #4 seed Connecticut at 1 p.m. on Saturday, Nov. 23. Second-seeded Virginia Tech and #3 Miami (Fla.) meet in the second match at 3:30 p.m.
The championship meet will be at 1:00 p.m. on Sunday, Nov. 24.
Against the Hokies on Sunday, the Irish were doomed by inaccurate hitting. Notre Dame managed just a .154 hitting percentage in the match with outside hitter Emily Loomis posting a .093 mark (11-7-43) and Jessica Kinder a -.100 mark (5-7-20).
Even though the Irish offense struggled, they stayed close in each game and battled to a 37-35 loss in game two. Freshman Lauren Kelbley was the lone offensive force for Notre Dame, putting up 15 kills on .609 hitting.
Virginia Tech was led by Ana Lang with 16 kills, while Cheryl Stinson had 14 kills on .444 hitting.
The loss to Virginia Tech is just the fifth BIG EAST Conference loss for the Irish and the second time Notre Dame has lost two consecutive conference matches since it joined the league in 1995. Notre Dame’s loss to Miami (Fla.) on Friday evening was the first loss to a BIG EAST team in 36 matches.