Coming off a successful weekend with two back-to-back wins, Notre Dame traveled to Syracuse, N.Y. to compete against ACC opponent Syracuse today.
Irish coach Debbie Brown said in order to win, the team needs to continue the momentum of offensive production, a skill she said the team excelled at last weekend.
"Last weekend we did really well generating more kills and having greater efficiency, and I think it is really important to keep that emphasis," Brown said. "Even though this is something we have been working on all season, I feel like we really made it over the hump."
Notre Dame (10-13, 4-8 ACC) had a quick turnaround from its last game, with only one day between Sunday's match against Pittsburgh and traveling to Syracuse. Nonetheless, Brown said the Irish prepared as well as they could, looking over film and attempting to get to know Syracuse (11-13, 6-6) a little better.
"Syracuse has a couple efficient hitters with high kills, but the thing that is a little more challenging is that they use a different lineup a lot, so we don't know the exact lineup," Brown said. "But we do know the hitter tendencies, and we want to use that to our advantage."
Brown said she hopes knowing more about Syracuse's playing style will assist Notre Dame in slowing down the Orange's offensive and shutting down their top hitters.
The team usually has a set schedule before away games to establish consistency, Brown said, but something that stands out about this game is the arena where the game will be held. The Carrier Dome has a capacity of 49,250, compared to Purcell Pavilion's capacity of 9,149.
"We have never [played] in something this big," Brown said. "We are eager to get in there early today, to get in some serving and passing, to get used to it."
Brown said Syracuse and Notre Dame are very similar, but the Irish have their work cut out for them if they expect to win.
"We know this isn't going to be easy," Brown said. "We also know it's going to be very competitive, but certainly, we are going in with every intention of winning."
Notre Dame and Syracuse will play at 7 p.m. tonight in the Carrier Dome.
Contact Meri Kelly at mkelly29@nd.edu
