PEPPER PIKE, Ohio – After dropping the first set, Notre Dame College came back to beat Ursuline College in five sets, 3-2, on Wednesday night.

The Falcons (7-8) ended their two game losing streak with the win and they improve to 2-1 on the road, this season. The Arrows (5-11) have lost five consecutive games and have gone 1-8 in their last nine games.

In the first set, Notre Dame's largest lead was two points as a Jessie Lee service error put the Falcons up 6-4. Ursuline scored the next four points to go up by two points and then a little later in the match, when NDC tied the game at 13, UC scored three straight points to take a 16-13 lead. At one point, Ursuline led 21-15 following a kill by Angela Zamora. NDC would not get much closer as they fell in the first set, 25-22.

The Falcons turned the tide in the second and third sets. NDC led early in the second set but allowed Ursuline to comeback and take a 7-6 lead. However, the deficit was short lived as Notre Dame used four attack errors and a kill by sophomore Mary Kate McHugh to go up 11-7. Later in the second set, up 11-9, the Falcons used a 10-1 run to effectively put the game away, going up 21-10. The Falcons won the set 25-15.

In the third set, NDC had to work back into the game after falling behind 7-4. A kill by sophomore Natalie Spadaro tied the game at nine. Notre Dame had to fight back and tie the game seven different times before taking a 16-15 lead on an attack error by Zamora. After taking the lead, UC could not tie the game again and NDC scored the final six points to win the set, 25-18.

As head coach Troy Haught said after the game, "it was an up and down night but the team really pulled together and dug in for the win."

After falling behind 12-9 in the fourth set, the Falcons scored six straight points using three kills, a service ace and two Ursuline mistakes. The Arrows did not take another lead until they went up 19-18. NDC would take one more lead and also tied the game late, but Ursuline scored the final two points to win, 25-23, forcing a fifth set.

The fifth set could have gone either way and was a set with multiple runs. NDC went up 10-7, but Ursuline scored the next three points to tie the set. Notre Dame stung together three points, but UC responded to tie the game at 13. Notre Dame's senior Melissa Maczuzak finished the deal with two kills late to win the set, 15-13.

"We had to serve a lot more aggressive and needed to start placing the ball better and we did both," said Haught. "We had to make different adjustments from our game against Urbana but they did."

Notre Dame had a hit percentage of .199 as a team on the night while their season average is .145. Maczuzak had 21 kills and 14 digs, McHugh recorded 18 digs and 14 kills, sophomore Ali Kaeberlein had 27 digs and sophomore Paige Staudacher had 47 assists. NDC had 77 digs all together.

Jessie Lee had 19 kills for Ursuline, Katelyn Selleny had 44 assists and Victoria Henderson recorded 18 kills.

"It's always a heated battle with Ursuline and a lot of emotion, so I was proud of them," Haught added.

The Falcons will take on Wheeling Jesuit University, in Wheeling, W.Va., on September 29. The match is scheduled to start at 7 p.m.