Notre Dame returned home this weekend after more than a month on the road, dominating Marquette and Syracuse in two conference matches to remain tied with St. John's for first place in the Big East.
The Irish (12-4, 5-0 Big East) defeated Marquette 3-1 Friday and followed it up with a 3-0 win Sunday over Syracuse. It was the first match in the Joyce Center for the team since a 3-0 loss Sept. 3 to Santa Clara.
"It's a tough thing where St. John's is the only other team that is undefeated right now and every match is critical to win the regular season," Irish head coach Debbie Brown said. "And that is certainly one of our primary goals. I know we have a lot of tough matches ahead of us, but it's a good start."
Junior captain Adrianna Stasiuk led the Irish in kills with 28 for both games and tallied 31 digs, including a 20-dig match against Marquette.
"She is our best all-around player," Brown said. "Both matches this weekend, I think she's leading with a lot of confidence, a lot of passion and just being very competitive."
Notre Dame is now 9-0 and 14-1 all-time against Marquette and Syracuse, respectively.
Notre Dame 3, Marquette 1
The Irish beat the Golden Eagles (7-9, 3-2 Big East) 30-17, 30-17, 21-30, 30-24 in a match prior to the pep rally Friday.
The score was tied at 17 in the third game, before back-to-back blocks allowed Marquette to put together a five-point run for an 18-24 lead. After a kill from sophomore Mallorie Croal and blocks from both Croal and freshman Justine Stremick, Marquette scored four more points to seal the game.
Marquette recorded six unanswered points to begin the fourth game. With Marquette leading 12-10, a kill from Stasiuk kicked off a six-point run that would put Notre Dame ahead for the rest of the game. Croal's ninth kill of the evening gave Notre Dame its fourth Big East victory.
Notre Dame came out strong at the beginning of the first game, establishing an 8-3 lead early. A 5-1 run that ended with a Stasiuk kill closed the first game.
Trailing 12-5 in the second game, Marquette took a timeout to reorganize.
Immediately following the timeout, a kill from freshman Megan Fesl reversed the game's momentum. Another Fesl kill ended it.
Stasiuk, who led with 13 kills and was second with 20 digs, recorded her 11th double-double of the season and scored six service aces. Senior Danielle Herndon led the team with 23 digs. The dominant offensive performance also benefited from seven kills from Stremick - a hitting percentage of .538.
Notre Dame 3, Syracuse 0
The Irish defeated the Orange (7-17, 1-4 Big East) 30-25, 30-22, 30-23 in a matinee sweep that saw freshmen Serinity Phillips and Fesl each put on 11-kill performances.
Phillips had three kills and one block for a point in a back-and-forth third game, and Fesl added several crucial kills to end a late Orange comeback.
"The whole match Serenity played really, really well," Brown said. "She's obviously our best blocker. She hit very efficiently and smart. I think she was our most consistent player throughout the day today."
The two teams exchanged the lead numerous times in the first part of the third game and Syracuse called its final timeout with the Irish leading 21-19 to regain its composure. Instead, Notre Dame came out of the timeout with the momentum and went on a 9-2 run to take the match.
Phillips had kills on the 23rd and 26th Irish points before Notre Dame took the game point on a ball hit out of bounds by the Orange.
"The girls were really talking to me, and first of all the passing was there, the set was there," Phillips said. "We were meshing really well."
Syracuse took a 13-11 lead halfway through the third game, but the points were taken away when it was ruled that the Orange served out of rotation. The call reversed the Syracuse run and knotted the game at 12 apiece.
A Stasiuk kill ended a first game that had been close until the Irish went on a nine-point run after the score became 12-10.
Stasiuk put away the second game as well with another kill against the Syracuse defense.
Notre Dame will next play Friday against DePaul at 7 p.m. at the Joyce Center.