SALEM, W.Va. – Notre Dame College extended their winning streak to four games with a sweep of Salem University in the first game of the Salem University Tri-Match, on Tuesday. Point Park University then defeated Notre Dame, 3-0, in the second game.

Salem (2-13) was slated first for Notre Dame (6-7) in the tri-match. The Falcons struggled with the Tigers in the first set, falling behind by five points, 12-7, at one point, following an 8-1 run for the home team.

NDC turned the set around when they went on their own 10-1 run. Two kills by junior Mary Kate McHugh, two kills by junior Erin Daugherty along with three errors and two bad sets gave Notre Dame a 20-15 lead. They would use that momentum to propel them to a 25-18 set victory.

The Falcons would carry the strong performance to the second set. McHugh had three kills and a block early in the set as NDC took an 8-3 advantage. Later in the set, up by three points, Notre Dame had help from Salem attack errors. The Tigers had four mishaps and the Falcons rattled off five straight points to go up, 15-7. Notre Dame won the set 25-17.

Looking for the sweep in the third set, Notre Dame went ahead 15-5, with nine of the 15 points scored via kills. NDC scored the final eight points and won the set 25-13, with a hit percentage of .345.

Daugherty led the Falcons with nine kills and 11 points and junior Paige Staudacher added 25 assists and two aces. Junior Alexandra Kaeberlein had 26 digs and freshman Amelia Kaeberlein had 13 digs. As a team, NDC had 37 kills to Salem's 13.

Head coach Travis Hinkle gave an insight into what has been giving NDC an extra boost.

"What really made a difference is Roberta (Jokubauskaite) coming back from injury and providing a big block in the middle."

Coming into the games on Tuesday, junior Roberta Jokubauskaite had played just two games. Today, she recorded three total blocks in game one and finished the tri-match with 10 blocks.

For Salem in game one, four players had three kills and Cassidy Pluta had 10 assists. Amy Turbak recorded 11 digs.

The four game winning streak was the longest streak since the program won five consecutive games in September of the 2016 season.

All three sets were close when the Falcons played Point Park (5-5) in game two. Notre Dame went up 3-0 in the first set, but the Pioneers put nine of the next ten points on the board and led 9-4. The Falcons could not grab the lead the rest of the way and lost 25-21.

NDC did not lead in the second set and fell 25-15. In the third set, Notre Dame did jump out to a 5-1 advantage. In fact, the Falcons led most of the set, but PPU came back. The Pioneers went on a 6-1 run to end the contest and won the set 27-25.

Daugherty and freshman Lizzie Willis led the Falcons with six kills. Sophomore Lauren Toman had a hit percentage of 28.6-percent. Al. Kaeberlein added 21 digs while sophomore Alyssa Campbell recorded 11 digs. Jokubauskaite recorded seven total blocks.

For Point Park, Erica Gumz led the team with 14 kills and two aces. Morgan Dangelo converted 19 digs.

Many players received more playing time as Hinkle changed rotations over the two games. And with six games over five days, fresh legs were needed on the court.

"We had the opportunities to get a lot of players in after playing a lot of matches in just a few days," he said.

The Falcons will start conference play against West Liberty University on September 18, in the Murphy Gymnasium. The game is set to begin at 6 p.m.