Like Miami in football, Notre Dame volleyball is the team to beat in the Big East.

The Fighting Irish (20-5, 10-0 Big East) are two-time defending conference champions, ranked first in the Northeast region, and are the only Big East school to receive votes in the national coaches’ poll.

Tomorrow afternoon at 1, Notre Dame plays Syracuse (19-9, 5-5) at the Women’s Building in the Orangewomen’s last and biggest home game of the season.

‘It’s Notre Dame,’ sophomore Morgan Jones said. ‘It’s going to be awesome.’

The Irish have defeated Syracuse each of the last seven seasons. Many Orangewomen set an early-season goal of winning a game against the Big East’s best program.

Now, after three consecutive conference wins — including an upset of Pittsburgh — the Orangewomen are confident they will give Notre Dame a challenge.

‘We’re not at all afraid,’ sophomore Rachel Crooks said. ‘We’re just excited to go tackle them.’

‘If we show up to play,’ Jones said, ‘we have the potential to beat them.’

SU assistant coach Alexis Dankulic said the Orangewomen are playing their best volleyball of the season at the right time. Since the Pittsburgh win, Dankulic said, SU has been playing with the consistency it lacked early in Big East play.

‘The team is playing better now than they ever have,’ Dankulic said. ‘If we play well, then we’ll be right in the match.’

Notre Dame features perhaps the best offense and defense in the conference, including the second-ranked blocking in the nation.

Freshman Lauren Brewster leads the Big East with 127 total blocks, and teammates Katie Neff and Lauren Kelbley join Brewster in the conference top 10 in hitting percentage.

Junior Michaela Skelly said Notre Dame’s front-row height, with three players over 6-foot-3, gives it an advantage at the net.

Syracuse players believe a win against Notre Dame would be more than the season highlight, but also a significant moment in the history of SU volleyball. Syracuse is 1-9 alltime against the Irish, with its only victory coming 21 years ago in the teams’ first meeting.

‘A win would be a huge step up for the program,’ Crooks said. ‘It would give us confidence carrying over to next year.’

Sophomore Ashley Kimes said SU has been looking forward to this match all season.

‘This match is going to prove how hard we’ve been working the last few weeks,’ Kimes said, ‘because we’ve been preparing for this match so hard.’

Skelly said the Orangewomen like their underdog role.

Said Kimes: “This will be the climax for our season.”

Published on November 7, 2002 at 12:00 pm