This week: Notre Dame College begins their 2019 season in Ohio with a visit to the Ashland Invitational. On September 6, the Falcons will play Felician University at 9 a.m. and Ashland University at 1 p.m. And then on September 7, they will battle Bloomsburg University at 9 a.m. and California University of Pennsylvania at 11 a.m.

Records: Last season, the Falcons put together a 16-17 record (8-8 MEC) and made the conference tournament. Felician had a record of 13-18 in 2018 while Ashland went 25-7 and made an NCAA Tournament appearance. Bloomsburg finished with a record of 6-22 last season and California (Pa.) finished 20-13, earning a bid into the NCAA Tournament.

Coaches Corner: Travis Hinkle is in his second season at Notre Dame and in 2018, he held a record of 16-17. John Chang is in his sixth season at Felician. He has a record of 29-113 with the Golden Falcons. Kevin Foeman is 25-7 after his first season with Ashland. Dan Kreiger became the first coach in program history and took Bloomsburg to a 6-22 record in their inaugural season. Peter Letourneau enters his ninth campaign at the helm of Cal Pa.

Rankings: In the preseason AVCA Coaches poll, Ashland did not crack the top-25 but did receive 26 votes.

Series History: Against Bloomsburg University, NDC has an all-time record of 1-0 against the Huskies, winning 3-0 last season. The Falcons are 0-2 against California since their first matchup in 2013. The program is 0-1 against Ashland, but have not played the Eagles since 2002. The Falcons have never played Felician.

Noting the Falcons: Notre Dame looks to continue improving after winning three more games, including four more conference contests, in 2018. The program qualified for the Mountain East Conference tournament as the seventh seed. This season they have been picked to finish sixth in the MEC preseason poll, which was tied for the highest mark for NDC volleyball since joining the conference in 2013. The Falcons have six seniors on the roster this season, including Mary Kate McHugh, Alexandra Kaeberlein and Paige Staudacher. McHugh was named DII All-American Honorable Mention by the D2CCA, took home All-Region, honors by two different outlets and earned Academic All-District status last season. McHugh finished 10th in the nation in kills with 507, led the team with 550.5 points and second on the squad with 22 aces. Kaeberlein was named to the Academic All-District First Team and Second Team Academic All-American. She was 10th in DII in digs with 725. Staudacher led the team in both assists (1102) and aces (32).

Noting the Golden Falcons: In the Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference's preseason poll, Felician was picked third. Felician had one of their best seasons as a program last year. The Golden Falcons won 13 games in 2019, the most in program history and a nine game improvement from 2018. The team also won eight conference games, a program record and qualified for the CACC tournament for the third time since the program began in 2004. The leader in kills and the top three leaders in digs last season, were all freshman. The roster is still young in 2019 with nine underclassmen on the 15 player roster.

Noting the Eagles: Ashland was picked to repeat at the top of the GLIAC South Division in the preseason poll. Last season, the Eagles opened the campaign with seven straight wins and ended up winning 25 games, which was an improvement of 11 from the previous year. Although they lost in the GLIAC Tournament Quarterfinal, they still earned a bid into the NCAA Division II Tournament. They fell in the First Round to Ferris State. Erin Krupar (362 kills) and Sophi Cudworth (328 kills) return after finishing second and third in kills at Ashland, last year. Krupar was second in digs with 375. Zoey Peck led the team with 1345 assists and was third with 326 digs, as a freshman in 2018. She was named the conference and Midwest Region Freshman of the Year. As a team, Ashland was second in the GLIAC with a hit percentage of .233. Ashland first hosted an Invitational in 2013. After taking a break from hosting the following three seasons, the Ashland Invitational started up again in 2017. In those three season as the host, AU has a record of 11-1 and they have outscored their opponents, 34-9 in the games.

Noting the Huskies: Bloomsburg was picked third in the Central Division of the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference going into the 2019 season. The Huskies put together six wins during their inaugural season in 2019, including two against PSAC opponents. The Huskies really struggled most of the year in the second set where they were outscored by 151 points, overall. Sarah Gomish led the team in kills (328) and was second in digs (289), but this season, she is a Graduate Assistant. Mary Kate Mooney was second in kills last year with 203 and third in digs with 231, Alyssa Cianciulli led the program in digs (645), Bryn Stek was second with 344 assists and Grace Giza led the team with 51 blocks. All of those players return this year.

Noting the Vulcans: Cal. Pa. was picked third in the Southwest Division of the PSAC preseason poll. The Vulcans had a solid 2018 season, finishing with 20 wins, six more than the previous year. They punched their ticket into the PSAC Tournament as the fifth seed. After they upset Pitt-Johnstown and lost to No. 21 Gannon the Vulcans secured their spot in the NCAA Tournament for the eighth time in the past 10 seasons. California has one senior on the roster (Rachel Priore), but they look poised to contend again in 2019 as they bring back their 2018 leader in kills (Priore), assists (Sarah Benson), aces (Benson and Shelby Alloway) as well as digs (Jensen Silbaugh).