The Notre Dame Fighting Irish women's volleyball team competes as part of

NCAA Division I NCAA Division I (D-I) is the highest division of intercollegiate athletics sanctioned by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) in the United States, which accepts players globally. D-I schools include the major collegiate athlet ...

, representing the

University of Notre Dame The University of Notre Dame du Lac (known simply as Notre Dame; ; ND) is a Private university, private Catholic research university in Notre Dame, Indiana, United States. Founded in 1842 by members of the Congregation of Holy Cross, a Cathol ...

in the

Atlantic Coast Conference The Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) is a collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference in the United States. Headquartered in Charlotte, North Carolina, the ACC's eighteen member universities compete in the National Collegiate Athlet ...

. Notre Dame plays its home games at the Purcell Pavilion.

History

Beginnings

The Fighting Irish fielded their first volleyball team in 1980 under head coach Sandy Vanslager. The team's first season would finish with a 3–19 record. After a record of 14–22 in their second season, the program's third season in 1982 would show signs of improvement finishing with a record of 25–9. After the 1983 season Vanslager would be replaced as head coach by Art Lambert.https://fightingirish.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/2023-24-Notre-Dame-Volleyball-History-Records-1.pdf Under coach Lambert In 1986, in just the programs 7th season, they would win the North Star Conference tournament, beating

Northern Illinois Northern Illinois is a region generally covering the northern third of the U.S. state of Illinois. The region is by far the most populous of Illinois, with nearly 9.7 million residents as of 2010. Economics Northern Illinois is dominated by ...

in the championship game. The program would continue this success by repeating as North Star Conference champions in 1987 and in 1988 making the

NCAA Division I women's volleyball tournament The NCAA Division I women's volleyball tournament is an annual event organized by the National Collegiate Athletic Association to determine the national champion of women's collegiate volleyball among its Division I members in the United States. ...

where they would beat

Penn State #Redirect Pennsylvania State University The Pennsylvania State University (Penn State or PSU) is a Public university, public Commonwealth System of Higher Education, state-related Land-grant university, land-grant research university with ca ...

in the first round but lose to

Illinois Illinois ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern United States. It borders on Lake Michigan to its northeast, the Mississippi River to its west, and the Wabash River, Wabash and Ohio River, Ohio rivers to its ...

in the second round.

Glory years

Notre Dame hired Debbie Brown, former

Arizona State Arizona State University (Arizona State or ASU) is a public research university in Tempe, Arizona, United States. Founded in 1885 as Territorial Normal School by the 13th Arizona Territorial Legislature, the university is one of the largest ...

coach, as their next volleyball head coach in 1991. She would immediately show signs of success, finishing as runner ups in the

National Invitational Volleyball Championship The National Invitational Volleyball Championship is an NCAA Division I women's college volleyball postseason tournament sponsored by the American Volleyball Coaches Association (AVCA) and operated by Triple Crown Sports. Its original incarnatio ...

in her first season. In just her second season as head coach in 1992, the Fighting Irish won the

Horizon League The Horizon League is a collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference in the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) NCAA Division I, Division I. Headquartered in Indianapolis, the league's eleven member schools are located in ...

volleyball tournament and made the 1992 NCAA Division I women's volleyball tournament where they would lose to Penn State in the first round. In Brown's third season in 1993 Notre Dame made the quarterfinals of the 1993 NCAA Division I women's volleyball tournament, getting a first round bye then beating

Nebraska Nebraska ( ) is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders South Dakota to the north; Iowa to the east and Missouri to the southeast, both across the Missouri River; Ka ...

and

Minnesota Minnesota ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Upper Midwestern region of the United States. It is bordered by the Canadian provinces of Manitoba and Ontario to the north and east and by the U.S. states of Wisconsin to the east, Iowa to the so ...

before again losing to Penn State. From 1992 to 2006 Notre Dame made 15 straight NCAA tournament appearances under Debbie Brown and two more in 2009 and 2012. Debbie Brown was replaced by Jim McLaughlin as head coach in 2015.

Modern era

Jim McLaughlin resigned in 2018 for health reasons and was replaced by Mike Johnson. Since 2015, Notre Dame has shown flashes of success, making the NCAA tournament in

2017 2017 was designated as the International Year of Sustainable Tourism for Development by the United Nations General Assembly. Events January * January 1 – Istanbul nightclub shooting: A gunman dressed as Santa Claus opens fire at the ...

2019 This was the year in which the first known human case of COVID-19 was documented, preceding COVID-19 pandemic, the pandemic which was declared by the World Health Organization the following year. Up to that point, 2019 had been described as ...

, and

2020 The year 2020 was heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, which led to global Social impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, social and Economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, economic disruption, mass cancellations and postponements of even ...

. Notre Dame hired

Salima Rockwell Salima Rockwell (; born January 24, 1972) is a retired American female volleyball player. She was part of the United States women's national volleyball team at the 1998 FIVB Volleyball Women's World Championship in Japan. College Rockwell pla ...

as their next head coach in 2022.

Conference membership

* Independent (1980-1982) * North Star Conference (1983-1987) * Independent (1988-1989) *

(1990-1994) *

Big East Conference The Big East Conference (stylized as BIG EAST) is a collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference that competes in National Collegiate Athletic Association, NCAA NCAA Division I, Division I in 10 men's sports and 12 women's sports. H ...

(1995-2012) *

(2013–present) ''Source:https://fightingirish.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/2021NDVB_Notes_VT-1.pdf''

Purcell Pavilion

Notre Dame volleyball has played at the Purcell Pavilion since their first season in 1980. From 1991 to 2004 they had 74 straight regular-season home wins against conference opponents. The team also recorded 36 consecutive home victories from 2000 to 2002.

All-time attendance

''Source:''

Coaches

Coaching history

Notre Dame volleyball has had 7 head coaches. ''Source:''

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Notre Dame Fighting Irish Volleyball Notre Dame Fighting Irish women's volleyball College volleyball teams in the United States Notre Dame Fighting Irish Women's sports in Indiana