The Syracuse volleyball team ran into a brick wall Saturday.

The Orangewomen’s attempt at an upset victory over Notre Dame ran straight into the Notre Dame front row.

Saturday at the Women’s Building, Notre Dame (21-5, 11-0 Big East) beat Syracuse (19-10, 5-6), 3-0. It was Notre Dame’s eighth consecutive win over SU, and it showed a capacity crowd why the Fighting Irish are the top-rated blocking team in the nation.

‘Their block was very impressive,’ Syracuse coach Jing Pu said.

Notre Dame outblocked Syracuse 16-6 in the win, helping to drop the Orangewomen’s attack percentage to .143.

Led by 6-foot-4 junior Katie Neff, and 6-foot-3 freshman Lauren Brewster, the Fighting Irish used their height repeatedly to stop Syracuse’s momentum.

‘With our size,’ Notre Dame coach Debbie Brown said, ‘blocking has to be good for us to win. It is something we have spent a lot of time on, and blocking has been the key to our season.’

SU junior co-captain Christen Casey said the Orangewomen focused on covering against the block all week in practice but said they still need to improve to defeat Notre Dame.

During the first game, the Orangewomen matched the Irish point-for-point led by outside hitting from freshman Kristen Conway.

Down, 25-21, Syracuse scored four consecutive points off kills from Conway and Ashley Kimes to tie the score at 25.

‘We thought we could at least get a game off of them this year,’ Casey said.

This was as close as Syracuse would come to winning a game against the Northeast Region’s top-ranked team. Along with the blocking advantage, Notre Dame also outhit and outserved the Orangewomen.

‘Our serving was not able to score as many points as we hoped for,’ Pu said.

Even with the loss, Pu was very pleased with Syracuse’s performance against the Big East’s top team. He said he was impressed with the Orangewomen’s intensity and effort.

Brown said she was impressed with the competition that the young Syracuse team provided. She was especially impressed with the Orangewomen’s outside hitters, Conway and sophomore Morgan Jones, and the hustle shown by Syracuse’s libero Casey.

‘(Syracuse) has a lot of talent,’ Brown said, ‘a lot of promise on their team. We had a tough time with them today. They have a strong future ahead of them.’

Saturday marked the last home match for co-captain Abby Van Mater. Honored in a pregame ceremony, she struggled with a shoulder injury throughout the match. Van Mater received treatment between her stints in the game and finished the match with two kills and two blocks.

The Orangewomen also honored Jen Crownover before the match. Crownover starred for Syracuse as a freshman, earning a place on the 1999 Big East All-Rookie team before suffering a career-ending injury.

Though the Notre Dame block ended Syracuse’s home season with a loss, the Orangewomen’s play inspired optimism throughout the team.

‘We’re definitely playing some very good volleyball,’ Conway said. ‘We hung with a team ranked in the top 25 in the nation in the preseason poll. That just goes to show how good we’re going to be in coming years.’

Published on November 10, 2002 at 12:00 pm