SOUTH EUCLID, Ohio – Notre Dame College volleyball continues to break long standing trends and records. On Tuesday, the Falcons were able to defeat Lake Erie College for the first time since joining NCAA Division II in 2012. The 3-1 victory is NDC's first against Lake Erie in their last 11 matchups.

A service error and two attack errors by Notre Dame helped Lake Erie jump out to a 5-0 lead in the first set. The Falcons eventually turned the momentum, after an early timeout. NDC bounced back with an 11-5 run to grab the lead, 11-10.

Later in the first set, the Storm trailed 15-14 before rallying with a 6-1 run, taking a 20-16 lead. NDC then took advantage of LEC's mistakes as three attack errors were a part of 5-1 run that gave the Falcons a 24-23 advantage. After going back and forth again, NDC closed it out and won, 27-25. The Falcons posted a hit percentage of .310, with the help of freshman Kaye Dregalla who had six kills and a hit percentage of .556.

Notre Dame led nearly the entire second set, until Lake Erie mounted an impressive comeback. The Falcons led 22-15 after back-to-back kills by senior Mary Kate McHugh, but the Storm roared to life and closed out the set with an 11-2 run. LEC tied the match at one with the 26-24 set win.

"The biggest problem with that second set is that we missed nine serves," said head coach Travis Hinkle. "Their middles were effective in that second set and they served tough and got on a run, but I think more of it was on us, we didn't take care of the ball in the second set. We still want to be aggressive with the serve, but make sure those serves are in. We did a good job of that, in the other sets."

The home team took care of business in the third set. Once again, the Falcons led for almost the entire set, except for a few early ties. Once Notre Dame put together a 4-0 run to give themselves a 10-5 lead, Lake Erie could not close the deficit within three points. NDC won, 25-16, recording just two attack errors on 36 attempts.

In the fourth set, the lead changed hands seven times, as it was tough for either team to extend a lead. Lake Erie had a late 5-3 run, but NDC able to put two of the last three points on the scoreboard and won, 25-22. Mary Kate McHugh finished with a season-high 21 kills, including 13 over the final two sets.

"Mary Kate came up and got some big kills," Hinkle said. "She took control of this game when we needed somebody to step up and take control. She did a great job especially in the third and fourth sets. She came out with a fire and was ready to play. Our middles were swinging high percentages too. We are really trying to get them to get back into the offensive flow, after a tough couple of weeks and it's nice to see that Carli [Derda] came in and got nine kills for us and Katie [Richardson] got seven and they only made three errors between the two of them."

"I felt really good," McHugh mentioned. "I think our team was getting excited and we were getting the passes and connecting really well."

The Falcons' program leader in kills gave credit to the bench for helping her put down the kills, late in the match.

"It's my teammates and coaches, they talk to me a lot and [I] just listen to what they have to say, because they can see a lot more than I can," McHugh said. "It's about trusting them."

For NDC, McHugh led the team in kills and finished with a .409 hit percentage. Dregalla finished with 12 kills. Senior Paige Staudacher helped out with 48 assists, three kills and 13 digs. Senior Alexandra Kaeberlein had 27 digs as NDC totaled 91 on the night. Sophomore Katie Richardson added four blocks.

For Lake Erie, Courtney Rosebrook led the team with 11 kills. Alexandria Becerra had 35 assists and 17 digs. The Storm had 14 blocks.

Notre Dame snaps a season-high three game losing streak with the victory, and they improve to 7-0 at home in 2019.

"It's always great to come home and get a win against a quality opponent, like Lake Erie," Hinkle commented. "We went there last year and they swept us. It's a testament to how our team has really grown, not just in the past year, but in the past few days, coming off of a few tough losses against some great opponents. We play very well at home. 7-0 at home is great, but what we have to work on is our road record. Taking a long road trip this weekend, it's something we need to improve on."

The Falcons will travel and play Concord University, on October 17. The match is scheduled to begin at 3 p.m.