ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. – Notre Dame College volleyball split day two of the Eckerd College Invitational with a win over Kentucky Wesleyan College 3-1, early in the afternoon and then closed out the tournament, losing to Eckerd College 3-0 on Saturday night.

Notre Dame makes the journey back to Ohio with a 2-2 record this season. Kentucky Wesleyan fell to 0-3 and the host of the tournament, Eckerd, improved to 4-0.

Game 1

Kentucky Wesleyan was right with Notre Dame in the first set. NDC went on a 6-2 run after falling down 2-0 early. The Panthers were able to creep within one point (15-14) on an attack error. Following a Wesleyan timeout, NDC went on a 4-1 run which was a major turning point allowing Notre Dame to win, 25-21.

The two teams looked evenly matched in the second set. Notre Dame came out hitting on all cylinders going up 3-0 and eventually pushing the lead to four points (8-4). KWC put the next three points on the board with two attack errors and a kill. NDC gave up the lead as the Panthers tied the game at 22 on an attack error. Following that tie, the game was knotted up four additional times. Wesleyan took a 27-26 lead on a service ace by Nicole Venema. The Falcons responded by scoring four of the final five points, all of which were kills. NDC won, 30-28.

In the third set, NDC was up 4-2 before Wesleyan grabbed the next six points, forcing Notre Dame to take a timeout. Later in the set, the Falcons tried clawed their way back and tied it up twice before taking a 14-13 lead on a kill by Melissa Maczuzak. Kentucky Wesleyan took the lead back by turning in a 6-1 run, putting themselves up 20-17. The Panthers went on to win their first set of the match, 25-23.

In the fourth set, Notre Dame was the team that put together the big runs. NDC put together an early 5-0 run to take the lead and then went up 8-4. They did not take their foot off the gas pedal as they put together a 3-0 run and two separate 4-0 runs. The Falcons took a 20-10 lead on an attack error and they coasted to a 25-17 victory.
As a team, Notre Dame had 59 kills and 74 digs. Maczuzak had 25 kills and 13 digs and an attack percentage of .354. Mary Kate McHugh recorded 13 kills and 24 digs while Ali Kaeberlein had 16 digs.

For Kentucky Wesleyan, Venema had 23 digs and Nilah Roy added 11 kills.

"Against Kentucky Wesleyan, we played the most consistently through the whole match," head coach Troy Haught said. "Our defense was very strong and our offense really started to click. We had a lot of communication and we did a great job, especially in the first and fourth sets when we went on runs."

Game 2

Notre Dame really struggled to get going against Eckerd College, who ended up going undefeated in the invitational. Early on, Eckerd took off by scoring six consecutive points on four kills, a service ace and an error, which put them up 11-4. At one point, the Tritons were up 21-9 over the Falcons. EC won, 25-13 in set one. It was more of the same in set two. Notre Dame kept with Eckerd in the beginning, tying the game at four before Eckerd added the next four points to the scoreboard. In a flash, NDC found themselves down 15-5 and would go on to lose 25-17, even after a strong second half of the set.

"Eckerd was the strongest team we played in the invitational, so I was excited to see how we would respond," Haught mentioned.

In the third set, Notre Dame used some momentum from the precious set to take a 3-1 lead, a 6-3 lead and even held a 12-9 lead at one point. Two attack errors by NDC allowed Eckerd to tie the game at 12. Late in the match, a kill by Maczuzak and an attack error put the Falcons up 24-23. EC then found a way to score three straight points to win, 26-24.

McHugh had 10 kills and 11 digs for the Falcons, while Kaeberlein added 13 digs. Maczuzak had an attack percentage of .250.

Eckerd held an attack percentage of .246, as a team. Fernanda Reis had a hit percentage of .667 and her teammates Paula Hoffmann and Sarah Johnshoy had percentages of .467 and .429, respectively. Kaitlyn Sibson added 17 digs.

 "We didn't start off strong as a whole, bit as the match progressed, we got better and better and the third set was probably one of the best sets that we played all weekend," Haught said. "Our defense was so strong and our offense and block were very consistent. I felt like this (third) set was clicking offensively and defensively for us."

The All-Tournament team was announced after the Invitational and two Falcons were honored for their work on the court.

Kaitlyn Sibson (Eckerd)
Abbie O'Ferrell (Eckerd)
Paula Hoffmann (Eckerd)
Katie Martin (St. Edward's)
Morgan Beckham (St. Edward's)
Ali Kaeberlein (Notre Dame)
Melissa Maczuzak (Notre Dame)
Anjelina Webb (West Georgia)
Jaylen Daffin (West Georgia)
Nicole Venema (Kentucky Wesleyan)
 
After starting the season 2-2, Haught sounded optimistic after the invitational.
 
"Overall, the weekend went well. We saw a lot of things to build off of and a lot of things we need to work on when we get back in the gym," he said.
 
NDC will travel down the road to play John Carroll University in University Heights, Ohio on September 6. The match is scheduled to begin at 7 p.m.