Notre Dame travels south this weekend for ACC matchups against Clemson and Georgia Tech in hopes of snapping a six-match losing streak.
The Irish (6-9, 0-4 ACC) will first play the Tigers (8-8, 2-3) in Clemson, S.C., on Friday night in the Jervey Gymnasium.
Irish coach Debbie Brown said Notre Dame has worked hard all week preparing specifically to combat Clemson and its type of playing style.
"Clemson is an outside dominant team, so that's one of the reasons we worked on our blocking all week, and especially our outside blocking," Brown said. "We feel like that is going to be really important for us, and we expect their outside hitters to get a lot of sets."
The Irish will then travel to Atlanta on Saturday to face the Yellow Jackets (7-10, 1-4) in the O'Keefe Gymnasium.
Brown said the Irish need to stay consistent on offense and defense in order to come out with victories.
"During practice this week we worked on varieties of offensives and how we were using the different hitters," Brown said. "If we put both the offensive and blocking we worked on, we can do well this weekend."
The Irish will cover over 800 miles each way for the conference contests, but Brown said the traveling will not have much effect on the team.
"We're relatively used to travel and the team knows that's apart of being a Division I athlete," she said.
Brown said the Irish are looking forward to experiencing the ACC conference and all the different places it can take them.
"We're going to new places, which is always exciting and different, and I fully believe we will be able to adapt to whatever the situation is," Brown said.
Brown said the Irish need a strong team effort to win both matches this weekend.
"I don't think we are looking for any one person to carry the team, we are looking for the team to pull together and be cohesive," Brown said. "We are looking for the team to help each other out."
Notre Dame squares off with Clemson on Friday at 7 p.m. before taking on Georgia Tech on Saturday at 7 p.m.
Contact Meri Kelly at mkelly29@nd.edu
