KUTZTOWN, Pa. – Coming off of an exhausting five set win on Tuesday, Notre Dame College looked fresh as they were able to sweep the first match of the day against Goldey-Beacom College and then lost just one set against the host Kutztown Univeristy in a 3-1 victory, on Friday. In the Kutztown contest, Roberta Jokubauskaite tied the program record with 10 blocks in a four set match.

Although the Falcons came away with a sweep, early in the first set and throughout the second set, Goldey-Beacom College played NDC close. In the first set, the Lightning put the first point on the board and were still only one point behind the Falcons at 8-7. That's when Notre Dame went on an 11-3 run, highlighted by two kills by both senior Mary Kate McHugh and freshman Blaire Barr. Barr also totaled two blocks during the run. The Falcons would win the set 25-13.

In set number two, Notre Dame took a 10-5 advantage, before GBC rattled off a 10-2 run. Down by three, the Falcons regrouped and tied the game at 16. They would close out the game on a 9-3 run and win 25-20.

Notre Dame made sure to close things out in the third set as an attack error, kill by sophomore Katie Richardson and ace by senior Paige Staudacher put them up 3-0 early. They carried that momentum and never let Goldey-Beacom tie or take the lead. The final score of set three was 25-12.

As a team, NDC recorded a season high .371 hit percentage and it's the program's best mark since October 20, 2017 when they defeated Glenville State with a .448 mark.

"Against Goldey-Beacom we did a really good job playing our game and distributing the ball all over the court," head coach Travis Hinkle said. "Our hitters were very efficient and Paige did a great job distributing the ball."

Lindsay Przywara had 11 kills for GBC and Autumn Spendlove had 19 assists.

For NDC, McHugh led the team with 11 kills with a .364 hit percentage. Barr had 10 kills, a hit percentage of .667 and four block assists. Staudacher had 35 assists and was second on the team with 14 digs. Senior Alexandra Kaeberlein had 21 digs.

The Falcons had a tough battle on their hands as they ran into another team with only one loss on the season. The host Kutztown University fell behind in the first set in their contest with the Falcons and did not recover. NDC started with a 6-2 run using four kills and the benefit of two attack errors. Later, they would expand their lead to 17-6, using a 9-1 run. NDC won the set, 25-18.

The second set featured three lead changes and four ties before either team reached seven points. However, after KU went ahead 7-6, they did not hand the lead back to the Falcons. The Golden Bears immediately went on a 7-2 run to push that lead to 14-8. Notre Dame lost 25-21.

The third set was an exciting back and forth fight. Neither team could pull ahead by more than two points until Notre Dame made the first major move of the game, scoring six straight and going on an 8-1 run overall. However, Kutztown fought their way into the game on NDC's set point. The home team scored six straight points of their own to grab a 25-24 lead. From that point, there were three ties but the Falcons won 29-27.

In the fourth set, NDC led most of the way. Kutztown kept the game close, tying it up twice after the Falcons took a 5-4 lead. Ultimately, Notre Dame won 25-23 to win the match, 3-1.

"Kutztown was a team we knew was going to be a challenge," Hinkle said. "Playing on their home court, we did a good job starting fast and getting a solid first set win. Kutztown took control the second set and really started to flow, but we did a good job battling against them in the final two sets to get the win. It was nice to see us finish the final two sets and adapting to how they made changes against us."

For Notre Dame, McHugh (18), Richardson (13) and Barr (12) each had double-digit kills. Staudacher added 47 assists and 10 digs. Defensively, Alexandra Kaeberlein had 23 digs and the entire team combined for 77. Along with Jokubauskaite's blocks, Barr added nine, which is tied for second most at NDC. The Falcons' 12 blocks are a season-high and tied for tenth most in program history.

Holly Owen had 20 kills and Abbey James gave KU 24 assists. Sydney Wilson recorded 20 digs and Lilly Charlton had nine blocks assists.

Tomorrow, the Falcons will take on Saint Michael's College at 12 p.m. and Salem University at 4 p.m. on the final day of the Kutztown Classic.