SOUTH EUCLID, Ohio – As the fans packed the seats in Murphy Gymnasium, Notre Dame College won an exciting match over Malone University in five sets. All the sets were decided by four points, or less, on a night that featured Alexandra Kaeberlein becoming the program leader in career digs and the Falcons grabbing win number four.

Malone came out of the locker room with rhythm and grabbed a 6-1 lead on five kills and an ace. Notre Dame slowly made their comeback, but struggled to get closer than two points.

Hannah Eliason put the ball down for a kill and Malone stretched their lead to six, 19-13. NDC responded with an 8-1 run, using four kills, an ace and three errors. The Falcons took their first lead of the day, 21-20 and then closed out the game with three consecutive points, and won by a score of 25-23.

NDC dropped the second and third set to Malone by scores of 25-23 and 25-21, respectively. Although they were very close games, head coach Travis Hinkle said the team needed to regain focus after those sets.

"In two and three, we lost our discipline, we were missing serves, we weren't playing on our feet, we weren't accelerating," he said.

"But in the fourth and fifth set, we went back to basics. We made sure we had good hard serves, we made sure we were in position on defense, making sure we were talking and listening. The team played for each other and there was no selfishness there."

In the fourth set, Malone again jumped out to a 7-2 advantage, but the Falcons did not panic. NDC went on a 7-1 run, later in the set, to grab the lead by one point, 16-15. Another long 7-0 run gave Notre Dame a 23-18 lead and essentially put the game out of reach. The Falcons won the set 25-22.

In the fifth set, NDC led nearly the entire time. Malone tied the game twice, but the home team closed the deal with a 15-11 victory.

"It was a good win against a very good team," Hinkle said. "Malone is 1-4, but they've had five great opponents who they've played and they're going to have a great season. Hats off to Malone for playing tough, but I'm so proud that we came together and came back from 2-1 down and pretty much took charge in that fifth set to take a win."

Senior Alexandra Kaeberlein was recognized during the second set as she reached 1,872 digs for her career, becoming the program leader. On the day that she was named MEC Defensive Player of the Week, the Falcons' libero finished the contest with 27 digs.

Senior Paige Staudacher recorded 58 assists, which not only was a career-high for her, but is tied for third most in a five set match in NDC history.

"I couldn't have done it without my team, especially the pass, I have to hold the passers accountable and the hitters accountable," Staudacher said. "It's all about the hitters, they put the ball down and it was pretty good tonight. I can't do it without my team."

Freshman Sarah DeGeorge was second on the squad with 18 digs and she also recorded seven kills, including three in both the fourth and fifth set. Freshman Kaye Dregalla led the team with 20 kills, while freshman Blaire Barr had 13 kills and a hit percentage of .387.

"What's great about it is, Kaye got 20 kills because Paige had the options displayed on the offense," Hinkle said. "Blaire had 13 kills, Mary Kate [McHugh] had 10 kills, Katie [Richardson] had eight kills, Sarah DeGeorge had seven kills in two sets on the front row. We distributed the offense and we kept the block in 1-on-1 situations and we used their block to our advantage and we really had those options. We always want to have the maximum amount of options. That's what we build the team around. It's exciting to see who is going to step up next."

Notre Dame travels on Friday to the Kutztown Classic. They will play Goldey-Beacom College at 1 p.m. and Kutztown University at 7 p.m. on the first day of the two day tournament.