KUTZTOWN, Pa. – After winning six of their seven sets played on Friday, Notre Dame College did not skip a beat on Saturday, sweeping St. Michael's College and Salem University as neither NDC opponent scored more than 20 points in a set. And with her performance this weekend, Mary Kate McHugh became the Falcons NCAA Division II era leader in kills and third all-time.

NDC took care of business in game one. In the first set, the Falcons pulled ahead against St. Michael's by a score of 5-4 and held onto that lead throughout the set. A 10-2 run to close out the game gave the Falcons a 25-12 win.

The second set was nearly perfect with Notre Dame committing zero attack errors, just two service errors while holding a hit percentage of .810. The Falcons put down 17 kills on 21 attempts. On the other side, SMC had just four kills and a hit percentage of zero. They scored just six points as NDC won 25-6.

"In the second set, we really did a great job controlling the serve and it carried out through the rest of the day," said head coach Travis Hinkle.

In the third set, St. Michael's scored the first point, but NDC then rattled off six straight points. The Purple Knights fought back, closing the gap to 14-11, scoring three straight points on an attack error and a couple of bad sets. Notre Dame would close out the set, and the match, with a 25-17 victory.

"It was a solid day on the court where everybody came in and did their part," Hinkle mentioned.

Notre Dame's hit percentage of .400 is tied for ninth in program history. Senior Alexandra Kaeberlein had nine digs and also recorded four aces, which is tied for second in a three set match at NDC. McHugh led the team with 10 kills and she now has 1,278 for her career. Senior Paige Staudacher had 30 assists and was tied for the team lead with nine digs.

Salem nearly caught the Falcons in the first set of game two. Notre Dame struggled with a .020 hit percentage. After NDC went ahead 10-3, Salem responded with a 9-3 run using the help of five errors. But, Notre Dame did not give the lead away and won 25-20.

The Falcons bounced back in the second and third sets, posting hit percentages of .424 and .429, respectively. They also held Salem to just 13 total points over the final two sets. NDC won the second set 25-8 and the third by a score of 25-5.

"Against Salem we struggled in the first set and made a lot of unforced errors, so we made the decision to put some fresh faces in, and it really made a difference," Hinkle said. "Lindsey Holub really provided a huge spark for us off the bench, and really helped us get on a roll."

Freshman Kaye Dregalla led the team with 11 kills and Staudacher had 22 assists. Junior Lindsey Holub had a career-high eight kills The Falcons had 68 digs and were led by Alexandra Kaeberlein who had 22. The team totaled 14 aces, which is second in program history in a three set match. McHugh and freshman Blaire Barr both had four aces, which is tied for second in program history.

The Falcons are now 8-1 on the season with their eighth win coming nearly a month earlier in 2019, than it did in 2018.

"Now it's time to enjoy the rest of the weekend and refocus on Monday to prepare for the Atlantic Region Crossover next weekend," Hinkle stated.
 
On September 20, the Falcons will play Shippensburg University (3 p.m.) and Slippery Rock University (7 p.m.).