[ UH VOLLEYBALL ]
In Irish folklore, leprechaun fortunes are sometimes found at the end of rainbows. Irish give UH
break from WAC
Wahine use D to sweep Mustangs
By Grace Wen
gwen@starbulletin.comBut Fighting Irish women's volleyball coach Debbie Brown knows Notre Dame will need much more than leprechauns and luck to knock off undefeated Hawaii (15-0) either tomorrow or Tuesday. Brown likes her team's progress this season and she welcomes the opportunity to test her players.
"We've been playing pretty well," Brown said. "As a coach you probably walk away from a lot of matches not feeling 100 percent pleased with what your team is doing. We're making good strides. We're making progress in areas that we struggled with earlier.
"It's a very long trip and tiring travel but we think it's worth it. Hawaii is always a very, very good team. It's important for us to play the best, so it gives us an opportunity to do that. And it gives us the opportunity absolutely to have a nice trip during our fall break."
It's a nice trip but not a total vacation. Brown said that she wants her players to stay focused on competing. But she also doesn't plan on locking the players in their hotel rooms since many of them have never been to Hawaii.
The Fighting Irish (15-3) are a blend of youth and experience, with three juniors, three underclassmen and a senior libero. Freshman middle blockers Lauren Kelbey and Lauren Brewster each average over a block a game and are part of the reason Notre Dame leads the nation in blocking (3.81 blocks per game.)
Sophomore outside hitter Emily Loomis leads the team in hitting (3.89 kills per game) while juniors Jessica Kinder (2.29 kills) and Katie Neff (2.95 kills) balance the offense. Notre Dame's strengths are hitting and blocking. The Fighting Irish have struggled at times with serving and passing but have spent extra time focusing on fundamentals.
Notre Dame dominates the Big East Conference much like Hawaii in the WAC. The Fighting Irish have gone undefeated in conference play the last three years and are perfect again this season, winning their last four matches on the road.
"We have had a lot of success in the Big East," Brown said. Like Hawaii, Notre Dame is unbeaten in conference play. "The top teams in the Big East definitely push us and we need to play hard. But in a lot of the situations, it's not where we have to go in and have everybody playing really well to win.
"So that's maybe not the best situation to be in. I would rather play in matches where we know we have to play really well all the time. It just helps build better habits. As a competitor, you want to play the best. You want to be playing at a high level as much as you can. Definitely coming to Hawaii gives us the opportunity. I'm hoping we'll be enough competition for them to be real honest."
The beast of the Big East doesn't come to town very often, but it always seems to catch the Wahine at their peak. In 1996, Hawaii was top-ranked and undefeated when it overpowered Notre Dame on successive nights. Playing Notre Dame this year will be a nice, albeit brief, break from the mundane task of beating up on WAC opponents. The Fighting Irish will be the last opponent to offer the Wahine a challenge before their Nov. 10 showdown with Stanford.
Hawaii coach Dave Shoji believes the matches will be good.
"They lead the nation in blocking," Shoji said. "We're among the leaders in hitting, percentage-wise (1st) and kills-wise (1st) so something has to give.
"We like the opportunity to play a very good team. It just makes it tough on us, but that's OK. We want it tough."
The Rainbow Wahine returned last night from a two-match road trip. Hawaii swept Texas-El Paso and Southern Methodist to remain unblemished in conference play.
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