Jamel Nicholas Class: Senior Hometown: Gibsonia, PA High School: Pine-Richland Height: 5-7 Position: Setter Birthdate: 11/12/1987

A natural leader who brings a strong technique to the setter position ... possesses great court presence ... floor general ... communicates extremely well and makes everyone around her better ... good defensive player and server ... talented hitter when given the opportunity ... reliable at the net with her blocking skills.

AS A JUNIOR (2008): Team co-captain ... fended off a late-season injury to steer the Irish to a spot in the final match of the BIG EAST Championship for the 13th time in 14 seasons since joining the league in 1995 ... paced the team in assists in each of the 31 contests while mentoring (then) freshman setter Beth Wildermuth ... reached a noteworthy milestone at the Idaho Volleyball Classic (Sept. 5-6) by surpassing the 1,000-assist plateau for her career ... finished the season with 1,107 assists (9.54/set) to bring her career total to 1,958, the seventh-best mark in program history ... third in BIG EAST action with 10.93 assists/set ... Notre Dame ranked fourth in conference play with a .261 hitting pct. ... the team was second with 12.85 assists/set and third with 13.73 kills/set ... distributed a career-high 68 assists during a five-set match versus Syracuse (Nov. 1), the most by any BIG EAST setter in any match throughout the season (it was the first time an Irish player had 60+ assists since Ashley Tarutis registered 63 in a four-set win over USF in 2007) ... Notre Dame's 74 assists in that match was the highest total of any league team on the year ... Notre Dame hit better than .300 in nine matches with a season-best .377 mark against Syracuse, which was also the best clip for a five-set match in program history ... the Irish also had 76 kills in the contest to lead the league in that single-match category ... threw down seven kills on nine attempts against Valparaiso (Aug. 31) ... the first of her seven double-doubles came one week later against Washington State (Sept. 6), when she logged 23 assists and 10 digs ... 48 assists at USF (Sept. 26) ... helped sweep Louisville (Oct. 4) with 47 assists and a team hitting pct. of .319 ... first 50-assist match of her career came against Pittsburgh (Oct. 12) with a total of 54 ... also had 52 assists against Marquette (Nov. 2) and Connecticut (Nov. 16) with 59 more versus St. John's (Nov. 22) at the BIG EAST Championship ... scooped a season-high 19 shots at Villanova (Oct. 25) ... six multi-ace matches and 27 total aces ... teamed for 16 block assists.

AS A SOPHOMORE (2007): Shared the court with fellow setter Ashley Tarutis for the bulk of the season ... appeared in 100 sets and each of Notre Dame's 28 matches ... notched 230 assists (2.30/set) ... recorded 118 digs (1.18/set) ... posted double-digit assists in nine matches ... also had 17 service aces ... went five consecutive matches with at least one ace (Sept. 23-Oct. 12) ... had four matches with multiple aces ... cleanly received three serves on the season ... tallied five kills ... finished nine matches with double-digit assists ... wrapped up nine matches with a perfect serve percentage ... had a season-high 23 assists against Marquette (Oct. 12) ... scooped 16 digs at LSU (Oct. 23) ... shelved a trio of aces versus No. 11 California (Sept. 15) ... dished 19 assists in back-to-back matches with the Golden Bears and Santa Clara (Sept. 16) ... had 10 digs in the regular-season finale against No. 17 Louisville (Nov. 11) ... handed out 20 assists in an early-season battle with No. 7 Florida (Aug. 26) ... distributed 21 helpers at Pittsburgh (Sept. 22) and against Villanova (Sept. 30) ... assisted on 10 kills at No. 23 St. John's (Oct. 28).

AS A FRESHMAN (2006): Appeared in 105 sets over 31 matches with seven starts ... led the team in assists 11 times including a stretch of four matches from Sept. 1-3 ... finished second on the team with 621 assists (5.91/set) ... fifth in service aces (22) ... reached double figures in assists 28 times ... totaled 15 matches with a perfect serving percentage ... started the first match of her career against Valparaiso (Sept. 1) ... tallied 36 assists and 10 digs against the Crusaders for her first career double-double ... helped Notre Dame place second among the BIG EAST's statistical leaders in assists/set (14.78) ... had 35 assists and 21 digs against No. 13 Missouri (Sept. 2) ... slammed home two kills to go along with 16 assists and six digs against Butler (Sept. 15) in the Sun Devil Classic ... racked 29 assists, 12 digs and perfect serving percentage on 17 attempts versus Duke (Sept. 16) ... chalked four service aces at Rutgers (Sept. 23) ... set her way to 38 assists against No. 18 Ohio (Nov. 24) in the Louisville Invitational ... wrapped up her first season with 25 assists and five digs at No. 10 Wisconsin (Dec. 1) in the first round of the NCAA Tournament.

THE NICHOLAS FILE: One of seven freshmen in an Irish recruiting class that Volleyball Magazine and PrepVolleyball.com tabbed one of the nation's best ... listed among PrepVolleyball.com's Top 150 Senior Aces ... led Pine-Richland (Pa.) into the 2005 high school state tournament ... four-year co-captain of her prep squad ... tabbed all-state by the Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic Association (PIAA) as a freshman, sophomore and senior ... missed her junior season due to an injury ... named the 2005 Gatorade Player of the Year in Pennsylvania ... a member of the all-Western Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic League (WPIAL) team in first two seasons ... earned all-WPIAL and all-state accolades again in 2005 ... led Pine-Richland to the WPIAL championship in 2005 ... the 2005 North Hills High School Athlete of the Year, chosen by the Pittsburgh Gazette ... named to Volleyball Magazine's list of the top 80 prep sophomores in the 2003-04 season ... just the second Pennsylvania native to play volleyball for the Irish, following outside hitter Robin Israel (Norwin), who wrapped up her career with the Irish in 1982 ... other Pittsburgh products to become student-athletes at Notre Dame are basketball player Dwight Clay (whose jumper ended UCLA's NCAA-record 88-game winning streak in 1974), football All-American and academic All-American Don Schaefer (1955), All-American swimmer Teri Schindler (1982) and All-American distance runner Derek Seiling (1997) ... member of the National Honor Society and St. Alphonsus bell choir ... full name is Jamel Therese Nicholas ... first name is pronounced juh-MEL ... daughter of Sue and Joe Nicholas ... mother was a four-year starting setter at Illinois State ... sports the #12 jersey also worn by four-time All-American Lauren Brewster (2002-05) ... born Nov. 12, 1987 ... earning a pair of degrees (sociology and film, television and theatre) while minoring in education schooling and society.

Nicholas' Career Statistics