Buckhannon, W.Va. – The Notre Dame College volleyball team (13-11, 4-5 MEC) traveled to West Virginia Wesleyan College (3-15, 3-6 MEC) on Friday evening for a date with the current fourth place Bobcats from the MEC South Division. NDC would top WVWC 3-2 in five sets during a match that featured haymakers from both sides. The win snaps a three-game losing streak for the Falcons and improves NDC's record in five set matches to 4-1 this season.
In the first set, it was an evenly matched contest with points being scored on both sides. NDC would pull ahead 20-16, however WVWC would dig deep and win nine of the final 12 points in the set to steal set one 25-23. In the second set, Notre Dame was determined and responded with a dominant 25-17 set win. The Falcons polished off the set by claiming five of the final six points, capped off by a Bobcat attack error. The third set offered more of the same excitement for MEC volleyball fans as the two sides exchanged points to a score of 11-10 NDC. The set would ultimately be decided during the proceeding WVWC run with seven of eight points, to the score of 17-12 Bobcats. The ensuing points would again continue to be exchanged back and forth until West Virginia Wesleyan sealed off the set 25-21. Again, in the fourth set, this roller coaster of a match delivered with more tight action from both sides as they duked it out to 15-13 NDC. The Falcons would gain control of the set when they would win the next four points to hold a 19-13 lead. Notre Dame forced a fifth set off of a WVWC service error, 25-18. Coming down to the wire in the fifth set the Falcons and Bobcats got after it to the score of 9-8 West Virginia Wesleyan. Notre Dame would flip into their final gear for the latter half of the set, by claiming seven of the last nine points in the match to win 15-11. A gutsy and resilient win on the road for
Hannah Watson,
Anthony Mezacapa and the Falcons after being down 1-0 and 2-1 at different points in the match.
On offense, former All-MEC performer
Kaye Dregalla paced NDC by tying a season-high with 16 kills. Seven other Falcons contributed to the attack including,
Grace Smotek (11),
Blaire Barr (8),
Kelsie Palmer (5),
Carli Derda (4),
Katie Richardson (2),
Jayme Zoeckler (1) and
Brittany Miller (1) to total 48 kills as a team (.160 hit percentage). Zoeckler and
McKenzie Andrix continued their excellence while setting with 25 and 15 assists respectively to pace NDC. Zoeckler's 25 assists is a match-high and ties a career-high for the freshman, en route to Notre Dame tallying 45 assists combined. In addition, as a team Notre Dame registered seven service aces with two apiece from Richardson and
Amelia Kaeberlein and one apiece from
Ellie Schenk, Andrix and Zoeckler.
On defense, Kaeberlein dug a match-high 25 attacks, followed by Andrix with 14 which ties a career-high,
Kiley Kalina with 12 and Schenk with 11, to go along with seven other Falcons to the tune of 79 team digs. At the net, Derda continued her dominance with a team-high five blocks. Barr (4), Richardson (3), Palmer (2), Smotek (1) and Dregalla (1) also posted important blocks to ensure limited success for the opposition.
Notre Dame College will be back in action when they return home for their first of three home games next week, on Tuesday Oct. 26 at 7 p.m. against West Liberty University.
