SOUTH EUCLID, Ohio – After winning on Friday night with a record breaking offensive performance, Notre Dame College was strong defensively as they beat West Virginia Wesleyan College 3-1 on Saturday night.

The Falcons (12-13, 4-5 MEC) have now won five of their last six games and won back-to-back home games for the first time this season. The Bobcats (8-15, 3-6) have lost four in a row and have dropped five of their previous six games.

In the first set, Notre Dame came out on fire as they scored the first six points off of three attack errors and three kills. The Falcons would go on to score nine of the first 10 points that were put on the scoreboard. NDC would increase their lead back to nine points, 16-7, after Hannah King had an attack error. The Falcons went on a 3-0 run to wrap up the set and win 25-14.

"Again tonight in the first set we looked unstoppable and I think that's our goal: to be that consistent all the time," head coach Troy Haught said.

A very hard fought second set went in favor of the Bobcats, their only set win on their current four match losing streak. NDC scored the first three points but WVWC stayed close. The Bobcats took their first lead at 5-4. Notre Dame would then go on a 7-1 run and led 11-6. The Falcons even led 23-17 before West Virginia Wesleyan scored seven straight points to take a one point lead. The Bobcats scored three points in a row, late in the set, to win 27-25.

The third set was very long as well, but this time, the Falcons were able to hold off WVWC. NDC again took a very comfortable 7-2 lead at the beginning of the set. The Bobcats clawed their way back in, as they would tie the game at 14 and eventually would take an 18-15 lead. Down five points, the Falcons scored five in-a-row to tie the game at 21 and from there, the game was a battle. The rest of the set had seven ties before Notre Dame rattled off three consecutive points to win 30-28 and go up 2-1 in the match.

"Defensively, we dug the ball up, we did a good job of going on three or four point runs, but the big thing that we have to work on is not letting teams go on three and four point runs on us," said Haught.

Neither team took a commanding lead early in the fourth set but the turning point in the game came when the teams were locked in a 14-14 tie. Following that moment, Notre Dame scored the next seven points. West Virginia Wesleyan would put together a short run but NDC held on to win 25-21 in the fourth set.

"I think the team is really starting to come together. They're all working extremely hard day in and day out in practice. We really harped on things we needed to fix and I think you're seeing those things and that's why we're getting the end result that we're getting. We played well overall, but now we see glimpses of what we can look like and that's what we need to take off and do," Haught mentioned.

The Falcons defense played very well as the team put together 81 digs in the game. Sophomore Ali Kaeberlein had 34 of them, a day after she had to leave a game early due to injury. Sophomore Mary Kate McHugh had 17 kills, 17 digs and 19.5 points while senior Melissa Maczuzak had 24 kills and 27 points.

"I think it was a great night overall. Our servicing was a little shaky, but I think the defense was the best we've seen in a while," Kaeberlein said, after the match.

"Ali's a fighter. She got the job done," Haught replied.

The attack percentage was not as high tonight as it was on Friday but Haught mentioned that the Bobcats did a better job of blocking the Falcons.

For WVWC, Hannah King led the team with nine kills and Hannah Bradford led the Bobcats with 18 digs. Katlyn Buckland recorded 24 assists.

Moving forward, Haught likes where his team is at and how quickly they are catching on to changes during the game.

"I definitely think we are settling in and finding our own, which is huge because even though we have a lot of returners, we're still very young on paper. We're still figuring things out and trying some new things," he said. "They're doing a much better job, in the match, being able to make the change right away, where before we said it until we were blue in the face and then we made the change."

The Falcons will play West Liberty University on October 24 for their Lace Up 4 Pediatric Cancer game in the Murphy Gymnasium. The match is scheduled to begin at 6 p.m.