ASHLAND, Ohio – On Saturday, Notre Dame College volleyball won twice in impressive fashion at the Ashland Invitational. They were able to win the first match 3-1 against Bloomsburg University and 3-0 over California University of Pennsylvania. The Falcons finished the weekend with a 3-1 record in Ashland, which is the best start to a season since moving to NCAA Division II.

"It was a very successful weekend on the court for our program," head coach Travis Hinkle said. "To cap it off with two big regional wins, that's the icing on the cake."

While taking on Bloomsburg, Notre Dame was able to flex their muscle in the first set. BU scored three straight points and took an early 4-3 advantage. NDC then rattled off six consecutive points, to go ahead 9-4. The rest of the way, Notre Dame led by four, or more, points. The 25-12 win was the largest margin of victory this season.

Bloomsburg took off in the second set and NDC played catch-up nearly the whole time. The Falcons never let the deficit get out of hand and ended up taking their first lead late, 21-20. The Huskies then closed out a tight 27-25 contest.

After the hiccup in the second set, NDC regained their advantage with a 25-18 win in the third set and a 25-17 win in the fourth. Over those two sets, the lead only changed hands six times, with NDC holding a comfortable lead near the end of each.

"Against Bloomsburg, it was great to watch a lot of our players get involved and get some game experience," Hinkle said. "I was especially happy to see Natalie Spadaro have such a big match for us. She has been battling injury for the past two years and it's great to see her getting back to her old self."

For NDC, freshman Sarah DeGeorge had 11 kills and 23 digs while senior Mary Kate McHugh also had 11 kills. Spadaro added 1.5 blocks, 10 digs and a hit percentage of .409. Senior Paige Staudacher totaled 36 assists. Defensively, the Falcons recorded 104 digs, which is fourth most in a four set match in the program's history. Senior Alexandra Kaeberlein led the way with 28.

Alyssa Cianciulli had 32 digs for Bloomsburg. Offensively, Brooke Kratzer had 16 assists and Bryn Stek had 10, but nobody on the team had more than eight kills.

In the third matchup of all-time between California (Pa.) and NDC, the Falcons were able to get their first win against the Vulcans' program, earning a sweep. Notre Dame came out strong in the first set. After the Vulcans took a 1-0 lead, Notre Dame responded with three quick points and never gave the lead back, winning 25-22.

In the second set, the Falcons fell behind 6-4, but then went on a 7-1 run to take a lead that they would not give away. Notre Dame won the set, 25-19. Interestingly in both the first and second set, Cal had more kills than Notre Dame, but the Falcons took advantage of mistakes. In those two sets, the Vulcans totaled 13 more errors than NDC.

The third set was a struggle between the two teams. The set saw the lead change five times and Notre Dame had a really tough time retaking the lead once Cal Pa. went ahead, 11-10. The Falcons did not grab the lead until they went ahead 22-21 and then closed out the sweep with a 25-23 set win.

"Coming into the match against Cal, we knew if we wanted to win, that it had to be a complete team effort, and that's exactly what happened," Hinkle said. "I was happy to see Kaye Dregalla and Blaire Barr come in as freshmen and have big time matches against a storied program like Cal does."

Dregalla led the Falcons with 15 kills and had a .452 hit percentage while Staudacher had 30 assists. Alexandra Kaeberlein gave NDC 13 digs and is now eight digs away from being the leader in that category at Notre Dame.

California (Pa.) had four player with double-digit digs. Kaylin Burkey totaled nine kills and 11 digs.

"This weekend was a great showing of what our team can do, what we need to work on, and how we have improved since the first day of preseason," Hinkle mentioned. "We are going to enjoy this weekend for the weekend, but it's a quick turnaround though with hosting Malone on Tuesday night."

The Falcons will host Malone University on September 10, in Murphy Gymnasium. The game is scheduled to begin at 7 p.m.