Volleyball Hosts No. 10 Notre Dame and DePaul This Weekend
9/29/2005 12:12:59 PM | Volleyball
SYRACUSE, N.Y. - The Orange volleyball team, coming off of a 3-2 setback to Siena on Wednesday night, hosts a pair of BIG EAST opponents this weekend. On Friday night, SU entertains BIG EAST Preseason Player of the Year Lauren Brewster and No. 10 Notre Dame at 7:00 p.m. On Sunday, BIG EAST newcomer DePaul will make its second-ever trip to Syracuse, and first to Manley Field House for a 2:00 p.m. start.
SU Hosts No. 10 Notre Dame and DePaul This Weekend
The Series With Notre Dame
After SU won the first match between the two teams in 1981, the Fighting Irish have won every match after that to total a record of 12-1.
Scouting The Fighting Irish
Notre Dame, which is 9-1 and ranked No. 10 in this week’s CSTV/AVCA Coaches Poll. So far this season, the Irish have beaten a few top-25 teams, including USC, Florida, and Texas. BIG EAST Preseason Player of the Year Lauren Brewster leads Notre Dame with 4.38 kills per game while Lauren Kelbley adds 3.92. Ashley Trautis registers 12.46 assists per game, which was second in the BIG EAST at the start of the week. The Irish are also leading the BIG EAST in blocking with a total of 132.5. Their lone loss came against LSU in five games.
The Series With DePaul
SU and DePaul have met just twice before in 1989 and 1990. The teams split the two meetings, with the Blue Demons winning the last match in 1990.
Scouting The Blue Demons
DePaul enters the match with a 3-9 overall record, and is 0-1 in the BIG EAST. Mandy Moorberg leads the team in kills at 3.97 per game. Ellen Hayes is right behind her with 2.88 kills per game. Mandi Caputo averages 11.80 asssists and has totaled 484 so far this season. Hayes also leads the team in digs per game with 3.29.
Senior Leadership
SU returned five players from last year’s squad that won 25 matches, the most wins for an SU volleyball team since 1996. Aila Dommestrup (Ottawa, Ontario) paces the offense with her 10.91 assists per game. Kelly Duan (Baotou City, China) has compiled 202 kills, a 4.21 per game average. Kristen Conway (Bethlehem, Pa.) is second on the team in kills with 147. Katie Allen (Fenton, Mich.) has been strong on defense, as she is tied for first in blocks with 40 while Kathryn Dercher (Weatherby Lake, Mo.) has played primarily as a defensive specialist. She has dug 91 balls, a 2.02 average.
Last Time Out
SYRACUSE, N.Y. – Senior Kelly Duan registered a team-high 17 kills for the Orange, but it was Siena sneaking away with a 3-2 (33-31, 14-30, 30-28, 11-30, 15-12) victory against Syracuse tonight in non-conference action at Manley Field House.
Duan was the only SU player in double digit kills. For Siena, Christie Gustafson recorded a match-high 19 kills. Setter April London dished out 54 assists and Nadiege Honore tallied 15 kills while Liz Hubbard added 13.
In the first game, the Saints jumped out to an early 13-8 lead. However, the Orange eventually tied the game 18-18 with a service ace from Duan, one of her six in the match, which ties her career-high that she set in 2003. The two teams battled back and forth from there, trading points. On Siena’s first game point, an attacking error allowed SU to tie the game 30-30. Gustafson put down one of her kills to give the Saints a slight edge, but freshman Brittany Kern came right back and knocked down a kill of her own to notch the game at 31-31. Hubbard responded with a kill of her own as Siena led 32-31, and then Honore put the game away with another kill to take game one.
In game two, the game was tied at 9-9. Senior Kristen Conway put down one of her seven kills, and then rattled off five-straight points from the service line to give SU a 15-9 lead. The Orange would run away with the game from there, putting up a run of five points and then eight points at the end of the game to win 30-14.
After the two teams were tied 8-8, Siena jumped out to a 12-9 lead in game three and never relinquished the lead after that. A steady lead of two or three points went all the way to 24-21, but two Duan kills and an attack error by the Saints deadlocked the game 24-24. Two kills by Gustafson gave Siena a 27-25 lead, and the Saints ended up winning 30-28.
SU came back strong in game four, utilizing a nine-point and eight-point run to ease to a 30-11 victory in game four.
In the deciding game five, the two teams traded points to 7-7. Honore added another kill to give Siena an 8-7 advantage, and then one of her service aces padded the lead to 9-7. Siena would keep that lead for the rest of the game, and ended it with a Christa Glenn kill for the win.
Setter Aila Dommestrup compiled 41 assists in the losing effort. Sophomore Joscie Kaup added 13 digs, while Kern tallied a career-high seven total blocks. SU as a team had 14.5 blocks compared to Siena’s 7.0.
For Siena (9-6), Kathi Kobayashi had a match-best 18 digs while Gustafson added 11.
Duan Climbing Up Charts
Kelly Duan has been chasing several records at SU. Currently, she is in the top-10 in career kills and career attacks, and her 4.21 kills per game this season would be the second best in a single season in history. Duan has also made a splash in the service aces department. She began the season eighth overall with 118 aces, and moved up to third all-time with a career-high tying six aces against Siena. Duan was named to the Kent State Invitational All-Tournament Team earlier in the season. In 2004, Duan was named to the All-BIG EAST First Team and was an AVCA Honorable Mention All-American, the first in program history.
Conway Swinging At History
Kristen Conway is currently fourth all-time in attacks at SU with 3,497. In 2004, she set a new high in a single season for attacks per game with 10.08. Her 1,115 attacks was the third-highest total in a single season. Conway is also currently fourth in career kills. She was an All-BIG EAST Second Team selection in 2004.
Dommestrup Assisting Own Cause
Aila Dommestrup, another senior, is moving her way up the assists chart in 2005. This season, she became just the fourth player in SU history to eclipse the 3,000 assists mark. She currently stands in fourth place all-time. Also, her 9.16 assists per game average in her career is second only to Norreen Carroll (1998-01). Dommestrup was a All-BIG EAST Honorable Mention last season.
Kaup Digging Her Way To The Top
Sophomore Joscie Kaup (Ft. Recovery, Ohio), in just two seasons, has already staked a claim has one of the best defensive specialists SU has ever seen. In her freshman year, she posted 457 digs, fourth-best in a single season. This year, she is digging an average of 3.57 balls per game, which puts her in second place all-time for digs per game in a career.
Kern Sets Career Highs Against Siena
Freshman Brittany Kern (Indianapolis, Ind.) set three new career highs in the 3-2 loss against Siena on Sept. 28. Her eight kills tied her career high, while her two solo blocks and five block assists set new highs. She also recorded her first-career service ace in the match.
Duan Named To BIG EAST Honor Roll
Senior Kelly Duan was named to the conference’s honor roll for her performances last week against Colgate, Georgetown, and South Florida. Against, Georgetown, Duan had match-highs in kills (16) and digs (19). For the week, she averaged 4.12 kills and 4.25 digs per game. She also had five service aces and two block assists.
Conway Sets Season-High vs. South Florida
Senior Kristen Conway paced the Orange to a 3-0 sweep of the Bulls on Sept. 25. In the match, Conway compiled 18 kills, her season best, on 33 swings. She only had one error, good enough for a .515 hitting percentage.
Allen Has Career Day Against GU
Senior Katie Allen set a pair of career highs in a 3-0 sweep of Georgetown. She had 15 kills and a .583 hitting percentage in the match, both career-bests.
Dommestrup Named Scholar-Athlete Of The Week
Senior Aila Dommestrup was honored as the SU Scholar-Athlete of the Week for the week of Sept. 19. She has been named to the Athletic Director’s Honor Roll four times and has been a BIG EAST Academic All-Star twice.
Quigley Sets Career-High
Redshirt freshman April Quigley (Warwick, N.Y.) had her first-career start against Delaware State in the HIlton Albuquerque Volleyball Classic. She made the most of it, totaling 31 assists in a 3-0 sweep of the Hornets.
Venue Change
The Orange volleyball team will now call Manley Field House its home court. However, two matches will be played in the Women’s Building this year (Oct. 28 vs. Rutgers and Oct. 30 vs. Villanova).
SU Impressive At Manley
The Orange has enjoyed great success when playing in Manley Field House. All-time, SU has an 82-34 (.707) mark in Manley, including a 20-13 (.606) record in BIG EAST matches held at Manley. SU won 13-consecutive matches in Manley from 1994-1996, and had an overall record of 24-2 between 1994-1997.
Volleyball Picked To Finish Sixth In BIG EAST
PROVIDENCE, R.I. - The Syracuse University volleyball team was selected to finish sixth in the BIG EAST Conference by the league’s coaches, announced Tuesday. Seniors Kristen Conway and Kelly Duan were both named to the 2005 All-BIG EAST Preseason Team.
The Orange, coming off of a 25-7 season, return five starters and the libero from last year’s squad. Duan, a 2004 AVCA All-American honorable mention selection, led SU in in kills (385) and service aces (40). Conway, an All-BIG EAST Second Team pick, led the Orange in kills per game (3.56) and was second in kills (352).
Louisville (30-3), ranked No. 16 in the nation, was selected to take the BIG EAST crown, with defending conference champion Notre Dame (21-9) picked to finish second. Pittsburgh (21-11), Cincinnati (22-11), and Marquette (22-7) round out the top five.
This season, the BIG EAST Championship format allows for the top eight teams to make the tournament, which is single elimination. The Championship will be held at the Kentucky International Convention Center and is hosted by Louisville. Championship play opens on Nov. 18.
Rank Team Points
1 Louisville (12) 194
2 Notre Dame (3) 185
3 Pittsburgh 165
4 Cincinnati 153
5 Marquette 144
6 Syracuse 138
7 Connecticut 111
8 Georgetown 75
8 West Virginia 75
10 South Florida 72
11 DePaul 68
12 Villanova 64
13 Seton Hall 50
14 St. John’s 43
15 Rutgers 38
