COLUMBUS, Ohio – Notre Dame College played solid defense again and beat Ohio Dominican University 3-2 in five sets of a very close match on Tuesday night.

In the first set, Notre Dame (13-16) and Ohio Dominican (4-23) were tied at nine before NDC went on an 8-2 scoring run. The Falcons led by six points (17-11), but ODU went to work and slowly chipped away at the deficit. They scored the next three points and remained in striking distance the rest of the set. The Panthers used two kills by Alexis Young, a kill by Alyssa Hoyng and three attack errors to score six of the final seven points of the set. Ohio Dominican won the set by a score of 26-24.

NDC bounced back in the second set taking a quick 7-3 advantage. Notre Dame continued to dominate and increased their lead to 10 points (21-11) following a kill by senior Melissa Maczuzak. The Falcons won the set 25-13 and Maczuzak had three consecutive aces to end the set.

The third set included a big comeback from NDC after Ohio Dominican took an 11-7 lead. Notre Dame then scored the next seven points, including five straight attack errors by the Panthers. ODU trailed 14-11 after the scoring run and would only tie the game twice the rest of the set but never retook the lead. Notre Dame won 25-22.

In the fourth set, Ohio Dominican dominated when they took a 3-2 lead. They only gave up the lead once the rest of the way when NDC tied the score at 3. The Panthers would go on to win the set by a score of 25-20 and force a fifth set.

The fifth set was very close, with four lead changes early. Notre Dame led 13-10 but ODU scored three consecutive points with two kills and an attack error, to tie the game. NDC put the final two points on the board and sophomore Natalie Spadaro had the winner with an ace.

"Our defense was very, very strong tonight, Ali (Kaeberlein) played very well," Head coach Troy Haught said. "Our serve receive was strong and we did a good job mixing our shots up when attacking and had a very balanced offense. We kept them out of system a lot with our serves. We also had some great hustle plays."

Both teams had an attack percentage of .177 for the match. Sophomore Mary Kate McHugh had 17 kills, 18 digs and 19 points. Maczuzak added 15 kills, 16 digs and 22 points while Lloyana Hunter recorded 10 kills and a .286 attack percentage. Sophomore Paige Staudacher had 55 assists and sophomore Ali Kaeberlein had 24 digs. As a team, the Falcons defended well and had 87 digs.

For ODU, Rebecca Skidmore had 15 points, 15.5 points and a .387 attack percentage while Young recorded 13 kills and a .290 attack percentage.  Ashton Barr had 48 assists and Jordan Jaecklin gave the Panthers 19 digs.

With only two weeks left to play in the regular season, Haught is looking at his team to play hard.

"We just need to keep improving every day and play consistent volleyball."

Notre Dame will continue their road trip as they will go to Fairmont State University on November 3. The game is scheduled to start at 7 p.m.