SOUTH EUCLID, Ohio – Notre Dame College achieves a signature win as they defeat Shepherd University by a score of 3-1, standing tough on defense to combat the Rams. The win is Notre Dame's first against SU since October of 2016.

The Falcons (14-13, 6-5 MEC) immediately found some momentum in the first set. Leading by just two points, 7-5, NDC took off and went on an 11-2 run. Notre Dame, now 8-3 in their last 11 matches, held an 18-7 advantage at the time, and used that run to eventually win the set by a score of 25-18.

In the first set, junior Mary Kate McHugh totaled seven kills, freshman Lizzie Willis had two aces and junior Riley Coleman added six digs.

"When we played at Shepherd, Lizzie served extremely well," said head coach Travis Hinkle, speaking about the first set. "I knew that her serve has been a big part of us winning so she got the nod to serve in her spot today. Mary Kate puts pressure on herself to be excellent and everyone in this conference knows that Mary Kate is an excellent player. She showed it tonight in every aspect of the game. But most importantly, her leadership on the court between her and Ali (Kaeberlein) and Riley (Coleman) makes our team grow and they build up my freshmen and sophomores. We had everyone stepping up in that first set. Everyone did what they had to do in that first set."

Shepherd (19-8, 8-4 MEC), the second place team in the Mountain East Conference, adjusted in the second set. They went ahead 7-1 right out of the gate. Although NDC, tied the game at 14, Shepherd scored 11 of the final 12 points in the set and won, 25-15.

In the third set, NDC bounced back in a strong way. The set featured multiple runs by each team. Shepherd went ahead 8-4 but NDC immediately scored five consecutive points to grab a 9-8 lead. Four lead changes had taken place once Notre Dame retook the lead at 15-14. The Falcons did not relinquish the lead and won the set, 25-19, while committing just one attack error in the set.

The Falcons closed out the game in the fourth set. Notre Dame took the lead when they went on a 4-0 run, and led 6-2. Although NDC never gave the lead back to Shepherd, the Rams did not allow their deficit to expand further than four points. Notre Dame closed out the set with a kill by McHugh and won 25-23.

"I couldn't be more proud of them," Hinkle said. "We played a complete game. It started out with our defense, that's how our team goes. Our blocking was the best it was all season against a very high-powered offensive team. It was a fun game to coach, it was fun for them to play, the crowd was unbelievable and that's a signature win. When you look back at your season and you look for the signature wins, this, right now is at the top of the list."

McHugh finished with 22 kills and a hit percentage of .296. She also had 11 digs and now has five consecutive games with at least 20 kills and double-digit digs. Junior Paige Staudacher added 44 assists and a season-high five blocks. Coleman had 11 digs and junior Alexandra Kaeberlein added 27 digs. Sophomore Roberta Jokubauskaite totaled eight blocks.

Shepherd came into the contest with the lowest blocks allowed per set in the conference, however, they allowed 12 team blocks to NDC, on Thursday. Hinkle was proud of his defense against a tough conference team.

"They stuck to the scouting report," He added. "We watched Shepherd and we watched our game against them earlier in the season. We saw what they did well and we had to take away what we knew they did. We found the holes where they shot at. That really helped us frustrate them. Our blocks made them adjust. Second set, they adjusted but then in the third and fourth set, we adjusted right back."

Cambriea Hill had 17 kills for Shepherd and Becca Kern added 43 assists. Imani Major led the team with 23 digs.

The Falcons will play Fairmont State University tomorrow, at home. The match is set to begin at 7 p.m.