This week: The Notre Dame College volleyball team will host Alderson Broaddus on Tuesday Oct. 12 at 7 p.m. in Murphy Gymnasium. Furthermore, NDC will then travel to play a pair of road contests with West Virginia State University on Friday Oct. 15 at 7 p.m. and the University of Charleston on Saturday Oct. 16 at 3 p.m.
 
Records: Notre Dame College begins the week at 11-8 (2-2 MEC) and sitting in third in the Mountain East Conference North Division. Alderson Broaddus enters this week at 4-7 (0-4 MEC) and are in last place in the MEC North Division. West Virginia State is atop the MEC South Division at 15-2 (4-0 MEC).  Charleston is 11-5 (3-1 MEC) and currently tied for second in the MEC South Division.
 
Coaches Corners: Hannah Watson and Anthony Mezacapa are in their first season as Co-Head Coach of the NDC volleyball team, with a career record of 11-8. Abby Stoner is in her fifth season as head coach of the AB volleyball team after spending eight seasons as an assistant with the Battlers. Kris Kern is in the midst of his fifth season as the head coach of WVSU and has a career record of 85-45. Tyler Kanelos is in his first season with UC after being named head coach back in April and carries an 11-5 career record.
 
Rankings: None of these teams are ranked in the AVCA Coaches Poll.
 
Series History: NDC has a 3-2 all-time record against AB dating back to 2011. Against WVSU, the Falcons are 4-4 all-time since the first meeting in 2013. Notre Dame has a 1-7 all-time record when facing UC since 2013.
 
Noting the Falcons: Notre Dame played just one match last week which came on Friday evening on the road against Wheeling. The Falcons dropped the match 3-0, however the team played much better than the scoreboard indicated with scores of 26-28, 20-25, 23-25.
 
Offensively, all season long it has been Kelsie Palmer leading the attack for NDC with 201 total kills. Kaye Dregalla (144) and Grace Smotek (133) also post triple digit kills to round out a well-balanced Notre Dame attack. Palmer ranks fourth in the MEC in total kills and sixth in the MEC in kills per set with 2.91. McKenzie Andrix and Jayme Zoeckler have been the setters for Notre Dame all season as the two interchange in each match grabbing assists left and right. Andrix posts 416 assists, while Zoeckler totals 266. Andrix ranks sixth in the MEC in total assists and eighth in assists per set with 5.90. In terms of serving, Smotek has totaled the second most service aces in the conference with 28 to lead the Falcons. She is also tied for the seventh most service aces per set at 0.42.
 
Defensively, Amelia Kaeberlein leads the team with 328 digs, while Smotek (250), Andrix (161), Kiley Kalina (155), Zoeckler (106) and Ellie Schenk (101) all total triple digit digs on the season. Kaeberlein ranks third in the MEC in total digs and is second the MEC in digs per set with 6.19. Carli Derda is a problem at the net for opposing teams as she leads NDC with 65 blocks, followed by Katie Richardson with 47 and Palmer with 40. Derda is tied for the second most total blocks in the conference, while being ranked third in blocks per set with 0.94.
 
On average, Notre Dame registers 12.1 kills per set (.172 hit percentage), 11.5 assists per set, 1.5 service aces per set, 19.2 digs per set and 1.7 blocks per set. In total and stacking up against the competition, the Falcons rank first in the Mountain East with 870 kills, first with 830 assists, first with 1384 digs, second with 124 blocks and third with 108 service aces.
 
Noting the Battlers: Alderson Broaddus is coming off a tough 0-2 week, in which they lost both matches 3-0. On Tuesday, AB played Wheeling in a lopsided affair 25-16, 25-12, 25-18. On Friday, AB saw little daylight when playing Fairmont State in a 25-13, 25-14, 25-16 match. The Battlers are in a rough place after losing their last four matches and only managing one set in said matches.
 
On average, Alderson Broaddus posts 11.0 kills per set (.132 hit percentage), 10.5 assists per set, 1.9 service aces per set, 13.7 digs per set and 1.5 blocks per set. In total and stacking up against the Mountain East, AB ranks 11^th in kills with 372, 11^th in assists with 355, 10^th in blocks with 55, 8^th in service aces with 68, and 10^th in digs with 481.
 
Noting the Yellow Jackets: West Virginia State is hot coming off of a 2-0 week, in which they swept both opponents, 3-0. On Tuesday, WVSU traveled to Davis & Elkins and won 25-18, 25-23, 25-21. On Friday, WVSU hosted West Virginia Wesleyan and defeated them 25-14, 25-19, 25-18. The Yellow Jackets are red hot as they are winners of their last 10 matches dating back to Sept. 10 against Missouri Western State University. During their current 10-game winning streak, WVSU has only dropped two total sets, including four straight wins via the 3-0 sweep. The Yellow Jackets will have to face Charleston and Alderson Broaddus before hosting Notre Dame on Friday.
 
On average, West Virginia State tallies 13.5 kills per set (.281 hit percentage), 12.4 assists per set, 2.2 service aces per set, 17.4 digs per set and 2.2 blocks per set. In total and stacking up against the rest of the conference, WVSU ranks fifth in kills with 727, but are first with their .281 hit percentage. They are fifth in assists with 670, third in blocks with 119, second in service aces with 118 and sixth in digs with 939.
 
Noting the Golden Eagles: Charleston went a clean 2-0 last week with two, 3-0 sweeps. On Tuesday, UC traveled to Concord and won 25-13, 25-22, 25-16. On Friday, UC hosted Glenville State and took care of business 25-16, 25-19, 25-13. Charleston enters this week on a two-match winning streak, but have two matches against West Virginia State and Alderson Broaddus before facing Notre Dame on Saturday.
On average, Charleston generates 11.6 kills per set (.189 hit percentage), 10.5 assists per set, 1.9 service aces per set, 15.5 digs per set and 1.7 blocks per set. In total and compared to the competition, UC ranks seventh in kills with 638, seventh in assists with 579, seventh in blocks with 91, fourth in services aces with 107 and seventh in digs with 851.