After salvaging a win at the Blue Raider Bash last weekend, the Fighting Irish look to fix some mistakes and create a winning streak as they travel to the Seton Hall Classic in South Orange, New Jersey this weekend.
Last weekend, the team suffered two Saturday defeats before turning it around Sunday with a strong showing against Middle Tennessee State to give first-year head coach Jim McLaughlin his first win with the program.
“What I saw when we studied the film was less repeated errors [as the weekend went on], more good movements in place, being in the right place at the right time, staying more focused on the things they were told to do,” McLaughlin said. “I saw better movement patterns. I saw better aggressiveness. I saw us improve, and I think we also understand that there’s other stuff that have to continue to make progress in, but for sure we need to move forward. That’s the most important thing, we have to move forward again this weekend. It’s another test, and we have to pass it.”
Now Notre Dame (1-2) turns its attention to Seton Hall, Temple and Hofstra, the three teams the Irish will face at the Seton Hall Classic on Friday and Saturday.
As the Irish turn their attention from one tournament to another in consecutive weekends, McLaughlin said it’s less about individual talent and more about the team playing together as one.
“They all have their own individual battles, and they’re learning that,” McLaughlin said. “We’re all in the same situation, and we’re studying to see who’s winning in terms of making changes. That’s the first part of winning. I thought everybody contributed when we played well, so nobody really stood out. I thought that [junior middle blocker Katie] Higgins had good numbers, and so can she repeat that and keep getting better? That’s the deal. I thought collectively, the contribution changed a little bit [from Saturday to Sunday].”
This weekend, the Irish face Seton Hall (1-2) on Friday before squaring off against both Temple (2-1) and Hofstra (4-1) on Saturday.
“We need to move forward, to get better, more consistent in what we do," McLaughlin said. "We have a higher understanding of what we need to do and we’ll invest in it and deal with the adversity along with improving, which is hard. But it’s nothing magic, we’ll just keep making progress.”
After coming home from their second road tournament in two weekends, the Irish will again have to refocus and prepare for the Golden Dome Invitational, which will be held at Purcell Pavilion next weekend.
