Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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ND SPORTS in the biggest moments. We have no doubt she will carry the same vision with her to Notre Dame." The recruiting class also included Annie Heffernan, whose personal best time (10:14.91) in the 3,200 meters stands as Ohio's state record, and only trails Rohrer's best by a few tenths of a second. Those two join Rachel DaDa- mio and Toni Finnane as likely new immediate contributors for the pro- gram that finished 29th at last year's NCAA Championships. Turner 's team opens the season Sept. 4 in the Crusader Invitational at Sunset Hill Farm County Park in Valparaiso, Ind. VOLLEYBALL EYEING REBUILDING PROCESS Notre Dame struggled to a 6-23 re- cord last season, finishing 14th in the ACC with a 3-15 league mark. That led to the departure of head coach Debbie Brown and led to the hiring of Jim McLaughlin, who brings a résumé so filled with accomplish- ments that it is difficult to pick just a few to highlight. McLaughlin is the only coach to ever lead both a men's team (USC, 1989-90) and a women's team (Wash- ington, 2005) to an NCAA champi- onship. Last season, his Washington club won a program-record 31 reg- ular-season games with only three losses, earned the No. 3 national seed in the NCAA Tournament and was ranked as high as No. 2 in polls. "I came here to Notre Dame because I think we can win," McLaughlin said. "I told the girls, 'Why not us?' … Here at Notre Dame, it should be us. I'm trying to think, why shouldn't we be in a Final Four? What holds this place back? "It's great academically. We've got one of the best athletic departments in the world. So I just see a lot of posi- tives." Entering his first season in South Bend in a rebuilding mode, McLaugh- lin said the top contributors on the team in practices change from week to week. But one consistent player is sophomore middle blocker Sam Fry, a preseason All-ACC selection after earning All-Freshman accolades in 2014. Fry gives McLaughlin a great build- ing block to start with. "Sam's a good athlete, as good an athlete as anybody I've coached," he said. "She's a tough kid. She's very real. She's a little bit reserved, but she goes hard. And she's willing to make the changes. Every day that she does that, that she makes a little change, she's winning. "And that's the first phase of win- ning as we continue to change. She works hard, she's got a good arm, and she's learning how to pass. She's in here every day bugging the heck out of me about how to get better, asking, 'Can I watch film?' I like her a lot, I like the way she's working, I want her to keep working harder — but the sky's the limit for her. She's got the ability." The Irish open the season against Bowling Green Aug. 29 in Murfrees- boro, Tenn., at Middle Tennessee State. ✦