ND Volleyball: Irish look to rebound in Big East Tourney
By: MATT LOZAR
Sports Writer
The Irish don't look so invincible anymore.
After losing its first conference matches since a loss at West Virginia on Nov. 15, 1998, the Notre Dame volleyball team goes into this weekend's Big East Championship at the University of Pittsburgh looking a little more human.
On Saturday, the Irish (21-5, 11-2 in the Big East) face Connecticut (14-14, 9-4) in a semifinal matchup. With a win, the Irish will have a rematch with either Virginia Tech (20-10, 10-3) or Miami (24-4, 10-3). The winner of that match receives an automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament.
Looking to qualify for their 11th consecutive NCAA Tournament, the Irish haven't changed their attitude, but are focused on fine-tuning their game.
"I think we had a good attitude going into the matches last week. We had good preparation but just didn't play well over the weekend," Irish coach Debbie Brown said. "I don't know if [our attitude] has drastically changed. It was good and healthy and still is healthy. I can see that we have a stronger commitment to make our game a little sharper."
Entering last weekend's final regular season conference matches, the Irish were 11-0 in the Big East and had already wrapped up their regular season title. With the goal of a fourth straight undefeated conference regular season in their sights, the Irish just fell apart.
"It wasn't just one area like it usually is, but several things went wrong for us. It was rare that we have had combinations of things go wrong," Brown said. "It wasn't just passing, serving or hitting. We had a variety of problems. Too many people did not play well and the mistakes accumulated. Obviously Miami and Virginia Tech were inspired and took advantage."
Against the Hurricanes, the Irish committed 12 service errors, had 10 service receiving errors and recorded a .000 hitting percentage in the match's fifth and deciding game.
Two days later at Virginia Tech, the Irish continued to struggle with nine service errors and five service receiving errors. As a team, the Irish hit .154 for the match.
One bright spot for the Irish in their losses was Lauren Kelbley. The freshman middle blocker continued her strong second half of the season hitting .481 against the Hurricanes and .609 against the Hokies. Kelbley leads the Irish on the season with a .349 hitting percentage.
In Notre Dame's 3-1 defeat of Connecticut on Sept. 27, Brown went to her bench in the come-from-behind victory. The Huskies won Game 1 and held leads of 20-10 and 29-24 in Game 2 before the Irish rallied to win that game 33-31.
Freshman setter Kelly Burrell saw her first significant action of the season and recorded 35 assists. Middle blocker Kim Fletcher had 11 kills, and freshman outside hitter Meg Henican led the Irish with 14 digs.
"I think we have looked at that tape a lot and we had several extenuating situations in that match," Brown said. "[Setter] Kristen Kinder was out from practice all week with a knee injury and was off her game. [Outside hitter] Jessica Kinder didn't play well against them, but has played well in the matches after that one.
"Lauren Kelbley, another of our starters, didn't play a lot and has been so steady, especially in the second half of the year when she has been unstoppable."
Notre Dame and Connecticut have one win against the teams in the field this weekend while Miami and Virginia Tech each have two. Combining those mixed regular season results with Connecticut and Virginia Tech's lack of postseason experience, the title is up for grabs.
"I love the fact that we have played [Connecticut], seen them, been able to study the film and see our mistakes," Brown said. "We are in a great position to correct the errors that we have had. I don't see either team having more of an advantage.
"With Virginia Tech and Miami, they just beat us and have confidence right now. We know we didn't play our best match and we know what we have to do to be better."
All Sports Stories for Friday, November 22, 2002
