INSTITUTE, W.Va. – On Saturday morning, Notre Dame College not only grabbed an important 3-1 road win over West Virginia State University, but accumulated a season-high 99 digs and junior Alexandra Kaeberlein broke the NDC single-match record in digs.

In the first set, multiple momentum swings ended up favoring the Falcons. WVSU (20-10, 5-6 MEC) scored five straight points to grab a 9-7 lead and then the Falcons, trailing 13-12, scored four consecutive points to pull ahead 16-13. The dagger came when NDC (12-13, 5-5 MEC) scored the final seven points to close out their 25-15 set win. During that final run, Notre Dame only had two kills but also had back-to-back aces by Alexandra Kaeberlein. Junior Mary Kate McHugh finished the first set with eight kills.

Notre Dame jumped out to a 15-9 lead in the second set, causing West Virginia State to take a timeout. NDC stayed consistent with W.Va. State after the break, nearly matching them matching them point-for-point and taking the set with a final score of 25-19.

In the third set, the Yellow Jackets scored five points in a row to grab an early 8-3 advantage and then eventually closed the set, scoring the final eight points of the set to win, 25-17.

The Falcons were the team that jumped out to the 8-3 advantage in the fourth set. Later in the set, a 3-0 run put West Virginia State right back into the contest and tied the score at 14. However, NDC immediately bounced back with a 7-1 run. Notre Dame was able to hold on to a 25-21 win.

"I was the most impressed with our defense today," said head coach Travis Hinkle. "Ninety-nine digs with five different players getting double-digit digs is incredible. We also served very well, and had some key serving runs that let us get comfortable leads in the sets that we won."

For NDC, McHugh accumulated a season-high 26 kills, which ranks her fourth in NDC single-match history. That number of kills also ranks her second in a four set match. Paige Staudacher gave Notre Dame 45 assists while she and Alexandra Kaeberlein each had three aces. Kaeberlein also had 37 digs, which breaks a school record held since 2009. Roberta Jokubauskaite added four blocks.

Gabrielle Bullock led WVSU with 14 kills. Kelsie Bossert had 22 digs as her teammates J'Lana Stone added 12 blocks and Devon Putnam finished with seven blocks.

The Falcons will come home to play their next game against Central State University, on October 23. The match will start at 6 p.m.