WHEELING, W.Va. – Notre Dame College went against the No. 2 seed Shepherd University in the Mountain East Conference Tournament, on Thursday afternoon. Despite a close first set, the Rams defeated the Falcons 3-0, to advance.

Notre Dame entered the tournament as the seventh seed with a record of 16-16, overall, and 8-8 in the MEC. However, the Falcons split the season series with SU, winning their most recent matchup on October 25. In Thursday's first set, NDC came out ready to play, scoring the first three points. The 3-0 lead would be the largest advantage for either team.

Throughout the back-and-forth set, the score was tied 18 times. NDC led late in the set, 19-17, but then Shepherd went on a 4-2 run to tie it at 21, forcing the Falcons to call a timeout.

The Rams would win, 28-26, with two consecutive points to end the set. Junior Mary Kate McHugh gave NDC eight kills and had a hit percentage of .533 while junior Alexandra Kaeberlein added eight digs.

Shepherd put together a 10-0 run in the second set, and led 13-4. The Falcons fought back immediately, with an 8-2 run of their own, forcing Shepherd to take a timeout after their lead was cut to 15-12. However, SU pulled away after the break in action and won, 25-16.

In the third set, Shepherd took a 2-0 lead and never gave it up. They led the entire set and won, 25-15 to end the match.

McHugh led the Falcons with 15 kills and a hit percentage of .209. She also had 11 digs. Junior Paige Staudacher led the team, totaling 27 assists. Alexandra Kaeberlein finished the day with 16 digs while freshman Katie Richardson put down four blocks.

For Shepherd, Peyton Lindblad put together 11 kills and Nicole Murray had 10. Murray also finished with a .375 hit percentage. Becca Kern led the team with 45 assists. On the defensive side, Imani Major had 20 digs and Murray finished with four blocks. Shepherd had a hit percentage of .297, as a team.

After the game, head coach Travis Hinkle was proud of what the team accomplished in his first season at the helm.

"I'm lucky that I had a team that loved coming to practice and loved playing with each other and, more importantly, for each other," he said. "We worked on changing the culture of NDC volleyball, and we are well on our way. From day one to where we finished off the season, I couldn't be more proud. I'm looking forward to getting back in the gym next semester and taking our program to the next level."