This week: Notre Dame College will play Shepherd University in the first round of the Mountain East Conference tournament, on November 8. The game is scheduled to begin at 2:30 p.m.

Records: The Falcons are currently 16-16 and hold an 8-8 Mountain East Conference record. Shepherd holds a record of 22-9 and 11-5 in the MEC.

Coaches Corner: Travis Hinkle is in his first season at Notre Dame. Alex Hoekstra holds a record of 73-53 in four seasons with the Rams and he is 36-27 in the MEC.

Rankings: Neither team is ranked in the AVCA Coaches poll. Shepherd is ranked sixth in the Atlantic Region.

Series History: Notre Dame has a record of 4-9 against SU since 2012.

Noting the Falcons: Notre Dame is making their third appearance in the Mountain East Conference tournament, but this is their first appearance since 2016. The Falcons had a five-game winning streak from October 20 until October 27, which matched the longest winning streak the team has had since September of 2016. NDC went 1-1 this season against Shepherd and won the most recent matchup, 3-1, on October 25. Alexandra Kaeberlein is currently 10th in NCAA Division II with 6.22 digs-per-set and sixth with 709 digs. Her teammate, Mary Kate McHugh, is sitting at seventh in the nation with 492 kills and 4.47 kills-per-set while she is eighth in points-per-set with 4.86. Paige Staudacher is third in the MEC with 1017 assists, while Roberta Jokubauskaite is now third in the MEC with 1.19 blocks-per-set. Notre Dame has been a defense first team and it shows as they are currently third in the MEC, holding opponents to a .149 hit percentage, just one percentage point behind West Liberty for second place, while they place second in digs with 18.99 per set.

Noting the Rams: Shepherd has won, at least, nine conference games in four of the last five seasons. Nicole Murray is second in the MEC with a .367 hit percentage while Peyton Lindblad is fourth in the conference with 3.71 kills-per-set and she has 401 on the season. Becca Kern is fourth in the MEC in assists at 997 this season and she is tied for first in the conference with 0.43 aces-per-set. Imani Major is fifth in digs with 5.19 digs-per-set and has totaled 567 digs. Georgia Ohmke averages 1.12 blocks-per-set. Shepherd leads the conference in aces with 1.81 per set and they are third in the MEC with an average hit percentage of .208. The Rams are second in kills-per-set at 12.68.

MEC Tournament: The other first round matchups include, University of Charleston against Urbana University, West Liberty University taking on West Virginia State and No. 13 Wheeling Jesuit University versus Fairmont State.