Notre Dame heads to the Seminole Tri-Tournament hosted by Florida State this weekend in Tallahassee to take on the No.19 Seminoles and Miami. The Irish are coming off a two-match winning streak after sweeping the Notre Dame/adidas Invitational last weekend.
Notre Dame (5-3) defeated Wisconsin 3-1 (15-25, 25-18, 25-16, 25-18) last Friday for the first Irish victory over the Badgers since 1987 and the end of a losing stretch for the Notre Dame team. After taking a day off, the Irish won their second straight victory Sunday, this one a 3-0 win over New Mexico. Notre Dame swept again (25-18, 25-19, 25-19) in the two squads' first meeting.
This weekend presents the Irish with another opportunity to take on non-conference competition and go up against another ranked team. Earlier this season, Notre Dame defeated No. 11 Stanford and lost to No. 6 Michigan.
The Irish start competition Saturday against the Hurricanes (7-2), the first time the teams have met since the Big East championship in 2003. Notre Dame leads the series 3-1, winning each of the last three meetings.
Miami's losses this season have been to in-state rivals USF and Florida International, however they did gain a 3-0 victory over Albany last weekend. The Hurricanes are coming off their second-best season with a 26-6 record, which was still not enough for them to appear in the NCAA Tournament.
Notre Dame will face No. 19 Florida State this weekend for the first time since 2000, with the Irish leading the series 2-1. The Seminoles (9-1) moved up from No. 22 this past week when they won all three of their matches last weekend in the FIU/Miami Invitational. Their only loss this season was to No. 5 Florida on Aug. 31.
Notre Dame hopes to keep their winning streak going and have high hopes for this weekend. Competition begins for the Irish at 2 p.m. Saturday in Tallahassee against the Hurricanes.
