PEPPER PIKE, Ohio – Notre Dame College volleyball opened up their season down the road, falling to Ursuline College in three sets, on Friday afternoon.

Notre Dame played very close with Ursuline in the first two sets, falling by a score of 25-23, both times. The Falcons did win the attack percentage battle in the first two sets.

In the first set, NDC took the first three points, but Ursuline went on an 8-1 run. Notre Dame would fight back to tie the game at eight, at nine and then at 16. Ursuline then put five of the next six points on the board, distancing themselves from the Falcons.

After falling behind 5-1 in the second set, the Falcons used four errors and three kills to tie the game at eight. Just past the mid-point of the set, Notre Dame snatched the lead from the Arrows, 16-15, with two kills by sophomore Lauren Toman and an attack error. From that moment, the two teams went back and forth with the game becoming knotted up at 23. The Arrows used two kills to end the set.

In the third set, Notre Dame got off to a hot start and led 5-3 following a kill by junior Natalie Spadaro. Ursuline then scored five of the next six points in the game. NDC mounted a comeback after falling behind 10-8, scoring five of the next six, all on kills. During that run, junior Paige Staudacher either assisted on or converted each kill. Once again, the teams battled closely, but a late 7-1 run by UC gave the Arrows an advantage they would not give up. NDC fell 25-21.

Notre Dame's junior Erin Daugherty had eight kills and an attack percentage of 41.2-percent, while freshman Katie Richardson had seven kills. Staudacher finished with 29 assists and junior Alexandra Kaeberlein led the way with 24 digs.

For Ursuline, Victoria Henderson added 13 kills on 38 attempts and Katelyn Selleny had 39 assists. Three players put together a double-digit dig performance.

"Overall, it was a good match against a solid opponent," said head coach Travis Hinkle. "Our defense carried us through the match. Ali Kaeberlein played a phenomenal game in the Libero positions. Erin (Daugherty) does what you want a Middle to do offensively, which is find a way to score. What we need to work on is fixable and they want to succeed, and that is what makes me so excited with this team and the upcoming season."

The Falcons will now travel to Vienna, W.Va. for the Ohio Valley Tri-Match on August 25. They will play the University of Rio Grande at 12:30 p.m. and Ohio Valley University at 3:00 p.m.