As the Irish went 1-1 last weekend, senior captain Adrianna Stasiuk continued to break Notre Dame records despite an injury that prevented her from starting in her normal outside hitter position.
The Irish attempted to make adjustments by starting Stasiuk in the libero position, but ultimately lost last Saturday's game to Pittsburgh 3-1 (33-31, 32-30, 23-30, 42-40).
"I think a lot of things went wrong on Saturday. We were playing with Adrianna in a different position because of her badly injured toe, so we had a completely different lineup in the game," Irish coach Debbie Brown said. "We weren't as consistent as we needed to be, and we kept getting leads but failed to close out on games."
Despite the injured toe, Stasiuk posted 14 kills. Freshman middle blocker Kellie Sciacca and sophomore outside and opposite hitter Serinity Phillips matched Stasiuk's kill total, and senior setter Ashley Tauritis recorded 45 assists to keep the Irish in the game.
Stasiuk continued to improve her records upon entering the match against West Virginia Sunday. She went into the match in sixth place on the Notre Dame's all-time dig list. One match and 17 digs later, Stasiuk moved up to fourth.
Thanks to Phillips' career high 23 kills and Tauritis' effective combination of defense skill and offensive assistance, the Irish defeated West Virginia 3-1.
"Despite the win, I still don't feel that we played up to our full potential against West Virginia," Brown said. "I think we learned a lot from this past weekend and we put into practice a lot of really good things. We've had some great practices this week that have built some good habits. I feel we are ready for the weekend."
This weekend the Irish (5-7, 1-1) will host two more conference foes - Seton Hall (9-6, 0-2) and Villanova (9-6, 1-1).
Last season, the Irish defeated Seton Hall 3-0 and Villanova, 3-1.
"Every team in the Big East is improving a lot. Villanova had big leads on St. John's, who are a top-20 team. We have our work cut out for us this weekend," Brown said.
The Irish will face Seton Hall Saturday and Villanova Sunday - both at 2 p.m.
