Volleyball: WVU Closes Out Season with Loss
November 14, 2004 06:06 PM | General
November 14, 2004
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| Studnicka |
SOUTH BEND, IND. – The West Virginia University volleyball team dropped a 3-0 (23-30, 25-30, 19-30) decision to Notre Dame in its final match of the 2004 season on Sunday, Nov. 14, in South Bend, Ind.
The Mountaineers opened game one with a 10-6 lead before Notre Dame went on a 7-1 run to take a 13-11 advantage. The Irish slowly built their lead to four at 20-16, forcing WVU to use its second timeout of the match. From that point forward, West Virginia was unable to get any closer than three and fell by the score of 30-23.
Game two was a highly-contested affair that saw a total of 15 ties and 10 lead changes. WVU was on fire to open the second contest of the afternoon and managed to build a six point lead at 9-3 before ND scored seven of the next eight points to tie the game at 10. The two squads were neck and neck throughout, but with the score tied at 25, Notre Dame recorded the final five points of the match to take a 30-25 game two victory.
WVU wasn’t able to jump on the Irish in game three like it did in the first two stanzas of the day. The early portion of the game saw 12 ties and four lead changes, but with ND leading by a 16-15 margin, the Irish put together a 14-4 run to put the Mountaineers away for good and win the contest by the score of 30-19.
Junior Stephanie Zolna registered a team-high 14 kills while senior middle blocker Alison Zemanski, playing her final game in a Mountaineer uniform, recorded eight on the afternoon. Freshman Abby Tevis also tallied eight while junior Julie Hockenson finished with five.
Senior setter Brandice Studnicka compiled 32 assists and a team-high 10 digs in her final appearance as a Mountaineer. Zolna, Tevis and sophomore Aurora Ebert-Santos each finished with eight digs while freshman Ashley Pappas tallied seven.
With Sunday’s loss, West Virginia finishes the season with a conference record of 4-6 and an overall mark of 18-13. Notre Dame improved to 9-1 in conference play and 16-7 overall. The Irish have clinched a spot in the first round of the BIG EAST tournament on Nov. 20.
Despite falling short in its bid to qualify for the BIG EAST tourney, WVU still enjoyed a record-setting season. West Virginia’s 18 wins are the most victories it has posted since 1991 when it finished with a 26-11 record. WVU’s 13 losses are the least number of setbacks it has encountered since 1997 when it closed out the season with a 15-13 mark.
Head Coach Veronica Hammersmith, who just finished her 30th year at the helm, has a total of 525 career victories, all at West Virginia.
