Last season, Notre Dame volleyball jumped out to an 8-2 start, riding high through their first week of conference play. However, on the 27th of September, the Irish ran into No. 5 Louisville and picked up loss number three in just three sets. From there on out, Notre Dame lost 12 of 15 matches to finish the season at 11-15.
Four weeks into the season, Notre Dame enters this weekend at a similar crossroads. The Irish are 7-2 and face No. 3 Stanford on Friday, which, of course, is the 27th of September. Cal also awaits on Sunday, as Notre Dame begins its 2024 ACC schedule by hosting two of the conference’s newest members. Will a difficult test early in league play put Notre Dame behind the eight ball again, or will the Irish use it as a launching pad for their best year under Salima Rockwell?
Schrader remains on a roll
Much of Notre Dame’s early-season success can be attributed to the continued maturation and step forward of senior setter Phyona Schrader. From last year to this year, Schrader has jumped from 1.897 to 3.294 in kills per set, from .209 to .371 in hitting percentage, from 0.91 to 5.00 in assists per set, from 0.026 to 0.471 in service aces per set and from 2.256 to 4.132 in points per set. She ranks top-four among Notre Dame players in every relevant statistical category, leading the Irish in kills (112), assists (170), service aces (16) and points (140.5).
With brilliance down that many avenues comes a heap of triple-doubles, and Schrader already has five of those. Last weekend, as Notre Dame split with Indiana, she notched two of them — including one in a three-set match — to pay off her ACC Setter of the Week recognition from the previous stretch of games. Even if Schrader does it all on Friday, Notre Dame might not have enough to defeat Stanford, but she can certainly pull the Irish closer.
Stanford seeking a return to the volleyball mountaintop
There’s no denying Stanford’s excellence as a women’s volleyball program over the last three decades. The Cardinal have claimed nine national championships — including three between 2016 and 2019 — and have reached the NCAA Tournament semifinals a total of 23 times. However, although the Cardinal have won the Pac-12 regular-season title in each of the last two seasons, they haven’t found much postseason glory. Each of Stanford’s last two seasons, which both played out with only one conference loss, came to an end in the NCAA Regional Final. As the third-ranked team in the nation, head coach Kevin Hambly and Stanford want more in year one as ACC members.
Like most top volleyball programs, Stanford has played a grueling non-conference schedule to reach an 8-1 start. The Cardinal have scored big wins against No. 18 Minnesota, No. 6 Wisconsin, No. 24 Marquette, No. 6 Texas and No. 11 Kentucky. Stanford’s only loss of the season, a highly respectable one, came at the hands of current No. 2 Nebraska in Lincoln. The gauntlet continues this weekend for the Cardinal, who will make the trip to No. 5 Louisville on Sunday after battling Notre Dame.
Looking at Stanford’s numbers on the season, the first item that stands out is the Cardinal block. Stanford ranks dead last in the ACC by a considerable margin with only 1.58 blocks per set. However, much of that can be attributed to the effectiveness of Stanford’s attack leaving opponents with minimal opportunities to counter. Otherwise, the Cardinal do a little bit of everything well, as Lizzy Andrew and Sami Francis rank top-10 in the ACC for hitting percentage, Kami Miner ranks second in assists per set, Jordyn Harvey ranks second in service aces per set and Elia Rubin ranks third in points per set.
Historically, the Cardinal hold a 7-1 series lead over the Irish, but the teams have not met since 2011.
Cal looking to continue improvement under Jen Malcom
After reaching the NCAA Tournament for the 12th consecutive season in 2013, Cal volleyball went into quite a rough patch. Heading into this season, the Golden Bears have finished with a losing campaign in eight of the last 10 years, cycling through five full-time and interim head coaches during that stretch. Now, on the heels of a nine-win improvement in 2023, Cal is heading in a better direction under first-year head coach Jen Malcom.
The Golden Bears have followed up a 16-15 season with an 8-4 start to 2024. They are, however, 0-4 against Power Four opponents and will enter South Bend after going through the wringer Friday at Louisville. Cal has surrendered the most kills to opponents in the ACC and has endured a great deal of roster turnover from their resurgent 2023 season. Xuemeng Li leads the Golden Bears in scoring (204.5 points) and kills per set (4.14).
Notre Dame has not met Cal since 2008 and leads the all-time series 3-1.
The Irish will face Stanford at 6:30 p.m. on Friday for Irish Wear Green Night before taking on Cal at 1 p.m. on Sunday at Purcell Pavilion.
