All-Americans
Jamel Nicholas
Setter 2009 Honorable Mention Gibsonia, Pa. Pine-Richland High School
Xavier, proceeded to post at least 16 kills in eight more contests throughout the season ... nearly secured a tripledouble at Connecticut to begin the BIG EAST slate, finishing with 16 kills, 12 digs and a season-high nine blocks ... Notre Dame Monogram Club MVP Award winner.
Christina Kaelin Dedicated leader and team co-captain ... only player to start in each match (28) and play in each set (103) in 2009 ... steered Notre Dame to a .253 hitting pct., which ranked 30th nationally ... 11.01 assists/set was the 30thbest mark of any setter in the nation ... third in BIG EAST play with 11.42 assists/set ... Notre Dame led the league with 14.32 kills/set and was second overall with 13.13 assists/set in conference matches ... her 1,136 assists put her at No. 11 on the single-season list, bringing her career total to 3,094 (fifth all-time) ... posted a 7.30 assists/set mark for her four years, ninth-best in program history ... first team all-BIG EAST ... AVCA all-Northeast Region ... also earned a spot on the Xavier Invitational and Notre Dame /adidas Invitational all-tournament teams ... ESPN The Magazine Academic All-District honoree ... 12 double-doubles ... 16 matches with 40+ assists ... three matches with 50+ assists ... 12 matches with 10+ digs ... led Notre Dame to season-best hitting clips of .422 (three sets - vs. Denver, Aug. 28), .353 (four sets - at Xavier, Sept. 4) and .297 (five sets - at Florida State, Sept. 20) ... posted a career-high four aces against Villanova (Oct. 4) to help the Irish snap a two-match losing streak to the Wildcats after Notre Dame had won the first 16 meetings between the two schools ... came through with big play after big play to post a pair of wins over two of the conference’s top squads in Cincinnati (Oct. 10) and Louisville (Oct. 11), and the efforts earned her the BIG EAST Player of the Week award on Oct. 12 ... led the Irish past the Bearcats with 52 assists, three kills, eight digs and two blocks ... each of her three clutch aces in the fifth set of that win were part of a 6-0 Irish run to close the books ... honored with Notre Dame’s Leadership of Distinction Award.
Serinity Phillips
Outside Hitter 2009 Third Team Valley Center, Calif. Valley Center High School One of three classmates to earn All-America honors in 2009, sharing the distinction with Jamel Nicholas and Christina Kaelin ... led the Irish to the BIG EAST Conference regular season title and a spot in the NCAA Tournament after going 14-0 against conference foes in the regular season ... the Irish ranked as high as No. 23 on the AVCA Division I Coaches Top 25 Poll and finished with a 21-7 overall record in her senior season ... became the 13th Irish volleyball player since 1993 to earn All-America status ... first team all-AVCA Northeast Region choice ... first team all-BIG EAST selection ... named to the alltournament teams at the Shamrock Invitational, Xavier Invitational and Notre Dame / adidas Invitational ... BIG EAST Player of the Week on Oct. 19 and appeared four times on the league’s weekly honor roll ... led Notre Dame in kills/set (3.34), total blocks (99.0) and points/set (4.05) ... steadfast go-to player for Notre Dame on the season and posted at least 16 kills in five league matches, accounting for 3.56 kills/set, 1.94 digs/set and 1.27 blocks/set against conference foes ... the 18th player in program history to record at least 1,000 career kills, totaling 1,154 through four seasons ... after a 20-kill output at
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Outside Hitter 2009 Honorable Mention 2008 Honorable Mention Louisville, Ky. Assumption High School Part of the AVCA’s Honorable Mention All-America team in 2008, becoming the 12th Irish volleyball player since 1993 to earn All-America status … copped the same honor as a senior in 2009 … also earned first team all-AVCA Northeast Region and second team all-BIG EAST honors as a junior … Notre Dame Monogram Club MVP Award winner … named “Best Attacker” at the Margie Himmelberg Memorial in Modica, Sicily … fifth in the BIG EAST with 3.57 kills/set … posted a .295 hitting pct. in conference play and led the Irish with 193 total kills … one of two Irish players with 300+ kills as her 367 led the team … hit at a .258 rate for the season … recorded double-digit kills in 24 matches – and 13 of Notre Dame’s 14 league matches – highlighted by 21 converted attacks against Pittsburgh (Oct. 12) … secured her third 20+ kill performance of the season with 21 knocks against topseeded St. John’s in the second round of the BIG EAST Championship … the output tied her for ninth on Notre Dame’s all-time 20+ kills list and brought her career total to seven … posted a streak of 10 consecutive matches with double-digit kills from Sept. 19-Oct. 16 … one of the highest rated recruits ever to play for Notre Dame and part of an incoming Irish class that Volleyball Magazine and PrepVolleyball.com called one of the best in the nation … the prolific outside hitter was ranked as the ninth-best – and first among Kentucky natives – player among 2005 high school seniors by PrepVolleyball.com.
Lauren Brewster Middle Blocker 2005 Second Team 2004 Third Team Brentwood, Tenn. Brentwood High School
One of only five Division I players to be an AVCA AllAmerican and CoSIDA Academic All-American in 2005 ... the second All-American in program history earned third-team accolades in 2004 and moved up to the second team in 2005 (only one middle blocker was on the first team) ... one of the most accomplished and decorated players ever to play for the Irish ... 2003 NCAA blocking champion … named to the ESPN The Magazine Academic All-America second team in 2005, becoming the third Academic All-American in program history (first since 1997) ... the 45th Notre Dame student-athlete (across all sports - the first in volleyball) to be an athletic All-American and Academic All-American in the same season ... one of just five Academic All-Americans who also reached the NCAA round of 16 ... tabbed the BIG EAST Preseason Player of the Year in 2005 after being the conference tournament MVP in 2004 ... first team all-BIG EAST pick in final three seasons (unanimous in ‘04 and ‘05) to become the first player from any school since 1997 to be a three-time selection on that team (and just sixth
UNIVERSITY of NOTRE DAME®
overall and second in Irish history, along with Jaimie Lee - 1995-97) ... named to the AVCA all-Northeast Region team (2003-05) ... continued to excel in her final season, saving her best performances for the biggest matches ... in the six Irish matches against nationally-ranked teams she averaged 4.27 kills/set to go with 1.58 blocks/set … assistant coach on the Irish staff during the 2007 season.
Lauren Kelbley
Outside Hitter 2005 Honorable Mention 2004 Honorable Mention 2003 Honorable Mention Bascom, Ohio Hopewell-Loudon High School Finished her four years with the Irish as the only Division I outside hitter to have been an AVCA all-region selection in each of her four seasons ... AVCA honorable mention All-America in 2003, 2004 and 2005 ... one of just three players from any school ever to be tabbed to the all-BIG EAST squad in each of her four seasons (first team in ‘03 and ‘05, second team in ‘02 and ‘04) ... named to ‘05 NCAA Tournament College Station Regional AllTournament team after an 18-kill performance against Wisconsin in the round of 16 ... posted 10+ kills on 90 occasions during her career (28 in 2005), more than any other player in Notre Dame history ... finished career with 1,463 kills, which ranked fifth in Notre Dame history ... led the Irish in ‘05 with 43 aces (0.35/set) ... that placed her seventh on the all-time Irish list of top season ace totals ... also combined with Brewster to become just the second set of classmates to each post 1,400 kills ... the duo posted a total of 2,948 kills.
Adrianna Stasiuk
Outside Hitter 2005 Honorable Mention Park Ridge, Ill. Maine South High School Established herself as one of the best all-around players in Irish history … tabbed Honorable Mention All-America by the AVCA in 2005 ... only sophomore named to the AVCA all-Northeast Region team ... named to all-BIG EAST second team and was the BIG EAST Championship Most Outstanding Player ... made Notre Dame the first school ever to have multiple players honored as Collegiate Volleyball Update’s National Player of the Week (following Lauren Brewster) in the same season in ‘05 … three-time all-BIG EAST honoree … ESPN The Magazine Academic All-District V first team member for two consecutive seasons … during her senior season, she passed the 1,000-kill milestone … also became only the seventh Irish player ever to register 1,000 kills and 1,000 digs in a career … led team in digs 23 times throughout career … second-highest combined kill-dig total in program history (2,783 – 1,294 kills, 1,489 digs) … on school’s career record list: ninth in kills (1,294), third in digs (1,489), fourth in dig average (3.39), fifth in matches with 20+ digs (12), second in matches with 10+ digs (91), third in service aces (128), sixth in ace average (.292), sixth in percentage of sets played (.954 – 439/460), fourth in attempts (3,681), fifth in matches with 10+ kills (74), second in double-doubles (62) … behind Stasiuk’s smooth serve-receive and passing, Notre Dame’s 1.03 opponent ace/set average in 2007 went down as the fourth-lowest since the first serve was struck