ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. – Notre Dame College started their regular season with a double-header on Friday at the Eckerd College Invitational, losing to St. Edward's University 3-0 in game one and beating the University of West Georgia 3-1 in the second game.

Game 1

St. Edward's started the first set strong as they were able to take an early 12-4 lead, with 10 kills, before NDC called a timeout. The Falcons fell down, 20-11 and then reeled off a 5-1 run, which included two kills from Lloyana Hunter cutting the deficit to six points. The Hilltoppers then closed out the set, winning 25-18.

"We didn't start off as we were hoping," head coach Troy Haught said. "Our offense struggled most of the match and our serve receive started off rough but got progressively better and so did our defense."

In the second set, NDC struggled again at the beginning and St. Edward's put the first five points on the board. Notre climbed back in within three points (14-11) before the Toppers went on an 8-1 run. They would beat NDC 25-13.

In set three, Mary Kate McHugh started Notre Dame scoring with a kill and a ball handling error on Olivia Rome gave the Falcons a 2-0 advantage. After falling behind, NDC closed the gap to two points five separate times, but eventually St. Edward's closed out the set with a 5-0 run, winning 25-14.

Melissa Maczuzak had seven kills and nine digs in the match for NDC. Natalie Spadaro had five kills and three digs.

For St. Edward's, Alexa McAndrew (13) and Katie Martin (12) had double-digit kills while Morgan Beckham had 17 digs. McAndrew had an Attack Percentage of .500.

"We did a good job of getting them out of the system but didn't capitalize off of it," Haught said. "Our serving was very aggressive. We saw a lot of good and bad things that we need to progress."

Game 2

Notre Dame jumped out to an early lead in the first set against West Georgia, going ahead 4-1 on an attack error, two kills and a service ace. The Wolves climbed back into the set but could never take the lead. A 9-3 run in the middle of the set put the Falcons up 19-10 which they were able to carry to a 25-14 victory.

In the second set the Falcons dominated, leading by 13 at one point. They would cruise to a 25-15 victory.

The Falcons stumbled in the third set, and let the Wolves claw their way back. West Georgia was able to tie the game at 14 and eventually took their first lead of the match (23-22) on a kill by Anjelina Webb. That was a part of a 5-0 run that also carried UWG to the set victory, 25-22.

In set number four, the two teams began the game going back and forth, with neither team taking a lead larger than two points. NDC opened the scoring and went up 10-5, prior to a West Georgia timeout. Following the timeout, the Falcons responded to a quick 2-0 run by the Wolves and ended up closing out the set and the match, 25-16.

As a team, Notre Dame had 54 kills and five aces and held a .207 hitting percentage. Spadaro and Hunter both had a hitting percentage of .357, while McHugh had a percentage of .257. Maczuzak had 18 digs and Ali Kaeberlein had 17 digs.

Webb had 11 kills and Faith Pearson 10 kills for UWG. Webb and Jaylen Daffin each had 11 digs.

"In the second match our offense came to life," Haught said. "Looking at the stats overall and watching the team play, I thought they played together more in this match and communicated much better. We really focused on three and four point runs and we did that very successfully."

Notre Dame will play two games tomorrow at the tournament in St. Petersburg, Fla. They play Kentucky Wesleyan College at 12:30 p.m. and Eckerd College at 7:30 p.m.