SOUTH EUCLID, Ohio – Notre Dame College wore yellow shoe laces and gold jerseys for the Go4theGoal Foundation and Pediatric Cancer awareness on Tuesday, but fell in three sets to West Liberty University.

Notre Dame's (12-14, 4-6 MEC) two game winning streak comes to an end with the loss and they fall to 0-2 on the season against WLU. The Hilltoppers (16-10, 7-4) have won three consecutive games and are 7-3 in their last 10 games.

In the first set, WLU jumped out to a 7-4 advantage before Notre Dame took the lead with a scoring run. NDC put together a 4-0 run with a kill and three attack errors. The Hilltoppers took the lead back and pushed it to four points (16-12). NDC took a timeout, but West Liberty continued to score and won the set 25-16.

NDC took a 1-0 lead after a West Liberty attack error in the second set, but that would be the only lead they would hold in the set. The Falcons kept the game close and did not allow the Hilltoppers to expand their lead over four points during most of the set. Later on, WLU started to run away, expanding their lead to eight points, winning with a final score of 25-17.

Early in the third set, the teams went back-and-forth, tying the game five times. After West Liberty grabbed the lead, Notre Dame tried to come and pulled within three points when senior Melissa Maczuzak's kill made the score 15-12. Later in the set, a kill by freshman Lloyana Hunter capped a 3-0 run and pushed the deficit to two points, 23-21. The Hilltoppers would score the final two points and won the set by a final score of 25-21 and win the match.

Head coach Troy Haught explained what happened, after the match.

"We just didn't gel," he said. "I think offensively, after the first set, the majority of the team was hitting .000 or they were hitting in the negative (attack percentage) and against a big team like West Liberty, that puts up a block like that, there's no way to execute if we can't dominate the ball. Our serve receive started off really shaky and it wasn't until the third set that we really started getting blocks, and again, their front line ranges from about 6' and above so if we don't at least get touches on the ball, it's going to be hard to stop them."

The Hilltoppers had a .283 attack percentage, as a team. Raimey Benson had 12 kills and 13.5 points while Sydney Scherer recorded 10 kills, 13 points and a .529 attack percentage. Kendall Souder had 21 assists.

For Notre Dame, Maczuzak had 12 kills and 13.5 points and sophomore Mary Kate McHugh recorded 12 digs. Sophomore Paige Staudacher helped out with 28 assists.

Haught knows the Hilltoppers are one of the toughest MEC teams to beat.

"I would definitely put West Liberty in the top four. I think Kayla (Fetsko Mull) has done an amazing job there. Her and I have gone through this conference from the start because, when I stated at Urbana, she started at West Liberty. They've got some good keys and I think they'll definitely be up there, I mean right now Wheeling Jesuit is still the forefront, but I would definitely put them in the top four in the conference."

The Falcons will play the University of Charleston, at home, on October 27. The match is scheduled to begin at 7 p.m.