SOUTH EUCLID, Ohio – Notre Dame College held a hit percentage of, at least, .225 in every set as they use six aces and 50 kills to sweep Central State University, on Tuesday night.

The Falcons (13-13) had a wire-to-wire victory in the first set, although Central State (7-22) had a nice 6-1 run after falling behind 22-11. NDC would score the final two points of the set and win, 25-17.

In the second set, Notre Dame led most of the early portion of the game. However, the Marauders did not go away, putting together a 3-1 run to pull within one point, 11-10. NDC later pushed ahead, scoring seven of the final 10 points that were put on the scoreboard. They took a 2-0 match lead with a 25-17 victory.

"Kudos to Central State," said head coach Travis Hinkle. "They played super hard and they don't let the ball drop. They made us fight for our kills and they may be limited in numbers but they were playing hard."

Junior Mary Kate McHugh came up big for NDC with eight kills and seven digs in the second set. Central State's Jade Simmons had two blocks in the set, and with CSU's taller players up front, Notre Dame needed to change the game plan a bit.

"We had to adjust to it (their blocking up front)," Hinkle mentioned. "We had to change the speed of our balls, we had to speed it up to get us more opportunities. They have some size on their team and we had to realize the deep holes and adjust to where they swung."

The Marauders jumped out to a 3-2 lead in the third set. Notre Dame would grab a slight lead, but Central State came back several times, tying the game at four, five, seven, nine and 11. After leading by one point, 14-13, NDC then went on an 11-1 run to close out the set and win, 25-14.

Notre Dame's McHugh finished with 21 kills on 46 attacks, 11 digs and two aces. She now has five consecutive games with 20 kills, or more. Junior Alexandra Kaeberlein added 11 digs and one ace. Junior Paige Staudacher finished with 30 assists and two aces. Freshman Lizzie Willis had 10 kills and sophomore Laura Krupar gave NDC 13 assists. Notre Dame had a hit percentage of .394 in the third set and finished at .284. 

"It's good to hit over .250 and we had 30 more kills than our opponent, which is great to see," said Hinkle. "I just wish we were a little more efficient. There were a couple times where we did not look at the other side of the court and we were just swinging to swing when we had open holes."

NDC had 13 players who entered the game for at least one set. The big rotation and the extra rest for the players will be significant for the Falcons this week.

"With us playing four matches this week, I wanted to keep our bodies fresh and get everyone some playing time," Hinkle explained. "Our players who don't get a lot of playing time really stepped up, they really made the most of their time in. It feels good, as a coach, to know that everyone can step in and do their part… when needed."

Akaila Howard had 16 assists for Central State and two players had six kills. Desiree Howard led the team with 11 digs.

The Falcons will take on Shepherd University on October 25, at home. The match will start at 7 p.m.