ND Volleyball: Lineup change may be in the cards for Irish
By: MATT LOZAR
Sports Writer
Despite starting Big East action with two wins last weekend, Notre Dame volleyball coach Debbie Brown was not satisfied with her team's passing. This week in practice, Brown has been experimenting with a lineup change to get the Irish's passing to be more consistent and improve the team's defense.
Traveling to Rutgers and Seton Hall this weekend, Brown may put outside hitters Meg Henican or Jessica Kinder at the libero position. If Jessica Kinder, who usually starts at outside hitter, is used at libero, then Henican will take her place in the starting lineup.
After surviving a scare from Connecticut last Friday and getting an ugly win last Sunday against St. John's, Brown needs to get her team performing better with every Big East team gunning for the three-time defending regular season conference champ.
"We don't prepare any differently for conference road matches than non-conferences road matches," Brown said. "But, I think the one thing that when we go into conference play is that in the conference we are definitely the team they want to knock off with us being the defending champions.
"I think there is more of an intensity from the other teams to beat us. I think sometimes that might be more in conference than in non-conference matches."
The Irish (11-3, 2-0 in the Big East) look to continue a number of streaks on this weekend's road trip. They have never lost to Seton Hall in seven previous matches and Rutgers in nine previous matches. Notre Dame's current Big East regular season winning streak is at 36.
Despite neither the Red Storm nor the Pirates playing a Big East match this season, Brown is not worried about being surprised by this weekend's opponents.
"Both of the teams haven't changed a lot from last year," she said. "We are really familiar with their tendencies."
Rutgers (11-4, 0-0) finished second in the Big East last year but was swept by Notre Dame at the Joyce Center. The Scarlet Knights are currently first in the Big East in opponents hitting percentage and have the conference's leader in kills in outside hitter Shayla Bush.
"Shayla Bush is Rutgers' best player and was their go to player last year," Brown said. "She is a very good outside hitter and is good all-around. A focus for us is to stop her."
The Pirates (8-10, 0-0) were 6-6 in the Big East last year and were also swept by the Irish at the Joyce Center. They have lost three in a row and four of their last six matches. Setter Shawn McDonald is third in the Big East in assists.
"Seton Hall has Kari Belin who has been playing well and their setter has done a good job keeping their offense balanced," Brown said. "We feel pretty good about what they are going to do and feel better than we did last weekend going against UConn and St. John's."
Notre Dame plays Rutgers on Saturday and travels to Seton Hall on Sunday.
Notes:
With their impressive blocking performance last weekend, including 22.5 team blocks against St. John's, the Irish are currently the top blocking team in the country with a 3.82 blocks per game average. Middle blocker Lauren Brewster's 1.58 blocks per game average ranks her seventh nationally.
In the Big East conference, the Irish are third in hitting percentage, fourth in assists, third in opponents' hitting percentage and third in kills.
All Sports Stories for Friday, October 4, 2002
