SOUTH EUCLID, OH – Notre Dame College volleyball had a quick turnaround today for their match against Frostburg State, after their match last evening. Today was the Falcons day to avenge their loss from a night ago by defeating Frostburg State 3-1. NDC improves to 11-7 (2-1 MEC) with the win, while FSU drops to 4-11 (1-2 MEC) with the loss.
 
In the first set, the Falcons seemed to be in control up 23-15, however the Bobcats had other plans and rattled off seven straight points, including ten of the final 11 points in the set to steal the first from NDC 24-26. In the second set, NDC was determined to even the match and did so by tallying the final three points of the set via a Katie Richardson kill and two FSU attack errors from Jackie Sterenberg, 25-22. Notre Dame sealed the door shut on set three when Kelsie Palmer delivered a kill and FSU committed another attack error, this time from AJ Thompson, 25-20. With NDC up 2-1 in sets, the Falcons knew they had to finish off the Bobcats now to avoid a fifth set and a momentum swing. Early on, NDC grabbed four straight points, three of which came via Jayme Zoeckler service aces, to put Notre Dame up 9-3. Moreover, NDC snagged five of the final six points, ultimately finalized by a Grace Smotek service ace, 25-20. Those two runs in the third set by the Falcons were the deciding factors in a resilient bounce back win for Notre Dame College.
 
On offense, Kelsie Plamer led the attack with a team-high 12 kills. Adding to the Falcon attack was Brittany Miller (10), Grace Smotek (9), Carli Derda (6), Katie Richardson (5), Blaire Barr (5), Kaye Dregalla (2) and McKenzie Andrix (1). Jayme Zoeckler led the team in assists with 23, while Andrix added 17.
 
On defense, Amelia Kaeberlein was the match leader in digs at 25, while Smotek added 17 herself. At the net, Derda posted a career day with eight blocks on the afternoon. Her eight blocks are the fifth most in a four-set match in program history. The Falcons were swatting the Bobcats all day with 15 total blocks, also good for fifth most in a four-set match in program history. Helping Derda at the net was Barr with a season-high five, Richardson with four, Miller with a career-high three, Palmer with three and Zoeckler with her first career block.
 
In total, NDC registered 50 kills on 163 total attacks (.166 hit percentage), with 47 assists, 69 digs, 15 blocks and eight service aces. FSU had 57 kills on 161 total attacks (.199 hit percentage), with 55 assists, 73 digs, ten blocks and four service aces.
 
Notre Dame College volleyball will be back in action when the Falcons travel to Wheeling to play the Cardinals on Friday Oct. 8 at 7 p.m.