Notre Dame volleyball will play No. 22 Loyola Marymount tonight as it prepares for the Golden Dome Invitational which will be held at the Joyce Center this weekend.

Although the No. 24 Irish will face Loyola Marymount today, which also participates in this weekend's tournament, the match is not part of the tournament action. Notre Dame will face No. 4 Colorado State and Wyoming this weekend in the Golden Dome Invitational.

Notre Dame is coming off a sweep of the Lady Seminole Volleyball Classic in Tall-ahassee, Fla., where it topped Florida A&M, Florida State and Samford for the tournament title.

Junior Kristy Kreher led the Irish in the match against Florida State with 19 kills while Marcie Bomhack added 13. Kreher led the tournament by being named the Most Valuable Player while senior Denise Boylan and Bomhack were also named to the all-tournament team. Sophomore Janie Alderete earned best defensive specialist honors for the weekend.

"This is a huge weekend for us," said Alderete. "It was definitely good for us to come out with three wins last weekend and we were able to get a bunch of people in."

Loyola Marymount is currently 8-1 as it faces the Irish for the second time.

Notre Dame has the upper hand with a win in the 1994 Golden Dome Invitational (15-6, 15-4, 15-8). The Lions only loss this year was to Duke in the Blimpie-/Hoosier Invita-tional II.

Notre Dame will face Wyoming in its first match of the tournament action on Friday beginning at 7 p.m. The Cowgirls are 6-7 with the Irish earning a win after their first meeting. Jamie Burke leads Wyoming this season with 170 kills and 141 digs while Melody Friehauf will also provide an Irish challenge with 69 blocks and 138 kills in 2000.

Colorado State holds the upper hand with two previous wins over the Irish and will look for the third when they face Notre Dame at 7 p.m. on Saturday. The Rams are currently 11-1 on the season with Courtney Cox leading the team with 173 kills.

"We're just going to take it one match at a time, one game at a time in every match and take the opportunities that we're given," Alderete said.

Today's game against Loyola Marymount will take place in the Joyce Center at 7 p.m.

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