SOUTH EUCLID, Ohio – On Tuesday night, Notre Dame College went point-for-point with West Liberty University, a team that holds first place in the Mountain East Conference, but fell in five sets in a very close game.

The Falcons (6-8, 0-1 MEC) jumped out to an 11-6 lead in the first set following a 6-0 run, which was highlighted by two kills from freshman Katie Richardson.

Later in the set, down 14-9, West Liberty (12-3, 3-0 MEC) scored three consecutive points and found themselves down by just two points. However, that was as close as the Hilltoppers would get and NDC won the first set, 25-18.

The second set was even closer. Neither team expanded their lead over two points through most of the contest. That changed when WLU tore off the final eight points to win the set 25-19. The Hilltoppers had five kills during that final run.

Notre Dame was ready for the challenge in the third set, with the match tied at two. West Liberty scored the first point, but NDC put 13 of the next 15 points on the scoreboard. They led 13-3 and then pushed their advantage to 12 points at two different times in the set (20-8, 22-10). They capped the dominate performance by scoring the final two points and winning by a score of 25-14.

The fourth set could have gone either way. Early on, Notre Dame could not expand their lead over three points. WLU grabbed their first lead when they went on a 3-0 run, two kills and an ace, to put themselves up, 17-16.

Notre Dame did hold a 21-19 lead later, but West Liberty found a way to get past the Falcons, scoring five of the final six points in the set to force a fifth set.

In the fifth set, NDC jumped out to a 3-0 lead. But when the Hilltoppers took their first lead in the set, the Falcons could only tie the game, twice, and could not retake the lead. WLU went on to win the set, and the match, 15-11.

"It was a tough loss against a great team," said head coach Travis Hinkle. "We actually stuck to our game plan pretty well, they just made a few shots at the end. We had players step up all over the place. Our defense was absolutely incredible tonight."

For Notre Dame, junior Mary Kate McHugh had 16 kills, 10 digs and three block assists. Junior Erin Daugherty finished the night with 12 kills, a hit percentage of .435 and a season-high eight blocks. Junior Alexandra Kaeberlein had 22 digs and junior Riley Coleman had 16 digs. The Falcons finished with a hit percentage of .155, but they totaled 14 blocks, and that was something that caught Hinkle's eye.

"Our block came alive," he said. "It was what really got us on a roll. We frustrated them, made them change lineups. Our block really set the ultimate tone for the rest of the match."

Junior Paige Staudacher had 44 assists tonight and became just the fourth player in NDC program history with 2000, or more, assists in her career. Hinkle was very proud of his "leader" after the game.

"Paige is a leader on the court," he said. "She came in, I changed up the offense on her, she adapted to it and she is getting better every match. She was a big reason why we played so well, her decision making and her listening and her adapting. I'm super proud of everything she's done and she has a lot more assists to go before her career is over."

Raimey Leonard led the Hilltoppers with 11 kills and Kailee Cunningham added 26 digs. Stephanie Leonard totaled 10 kills with a hit percentage of 32-percent along with six assisted blocks. Kendall Souder led the team with 27 assists.

Hinkle spoke about how he felt after the team played their home opener.

"We're used to playing in this gym and it's nice to have a home match," the coach mentioned. "We knew that it was going to be hot, we knew that we had to control our side and more importantly, we had to play our game. Our game plan was to play good defense, find shots and don't let the ball hit the ground, that's what we did. Unfortunately we took a loss, but it's a great stepping stone."

The Falcons will battle No. 19 Wheeling Jesuit University in the Murphy Gymnasium on September 21. The match is scheduled to start at 7 p.m.