SOUTH EUCLID, OH – The Notre Dame College volleyball team (14-12, 5-6 MEC) hosted Concord University (5-15, 1-10 MEC) on Thursday evening in what was NDC's second of three matches inside Murphy Gymnasium this week. A slow start by Notre Dame would be overcome by a score of 3-1.
In the first set, the Falcons came out flat and faced a quick 10-6 deficit, however NDC rallied to tie the match several times between 13-13 and 23-23. The CU Mountain Lions would go on to claim the final two points of the set to win 25-23. In the second set, the Falcons again came out of the gate flat and saw their second 10-6 deficit.
When asked about the in-game adjustments, Co-Head Coach
Hannah Watson had this to say, "One of the biggest things we have been focusing on is an intangible skill. We have been talking about energy and competitive enthusiasm."
NDC would react well to the coaching of Watson and
Anthony Mezacapa, by grabbing 13 of the next 18 points to hold a 19-15 lead. A back and forth end to the set would give way to a kill by
Kaye Dregalla and 25-23 win for Notre Dame. The third set was all Notre Dame College as the Falcons dominated from start to finish, by rattling off six straight kills via
Grace Smotek (1),
Katie Richardson (2) and
Kelsie Palmer (3) to end the set 25-13. The fourth and final set featured a hot start to the set for NDC with a 5-1 lead, however CU responded and grabbed the lead at 13-12. With the match at 17-16 Concord, Notre Dame kicked their game up a gear and took seven on the proceeding eight points to move just two points away from the match 23-18. The match would end 25-20 after a crafty kill by setter
Jayme Zoeckler that caught the Mountain Lions off guard sending Murphy Gymnasium into a craze.
Senior captian,
Amelia Kaeberlein vocalized her pleasure after the match, "We have the best fans, they always come out and support whether we win or lose."
On offense, NDC was highlighted by Dregalla with a match and season-high 18 kills. In addition, Richardson stayed red-hot and posted a season-high 13 kills (.385 hit percentage). This is the second straight game in which Richardson has posted a season-high in kills, while also hitting north of 38% in both contests. Moreover,
Blaire Barr (9), Smotek (6),
Carli Derda (5), Palmer (5), Zoeckler (2),
Brittany Miller (2) and
McKenzie Andrix (1) were the eight other Falcons to record a kill, totaling 61 as a team (.198 hit percentage). Zoecker (career-high) and Andrix continued their excellence by serving up 28 and 22 assists respectively to the tune of 58 team assists. NDC's 58 assists tonight ties the program record for assists in a four-set match which was set back on Oct. 13, 2017 when NDC played at Concord University. In terms of service, Notre Dame totaled five aces from Richardson (3), Andrix (1) and
Ellie Schenk (1).
On defense, Kaeberlein notched the 6
th most digs in a four-set match in program history with 32. Schenk (13), Zoeckler (11) and Andrix (11) were the other Falcons with double digit assists, to help total 86 digs as a team. At the net, Richardson, Barr and Derda all registered two blocks while Palmer swatted one to claim four blocks as a team.
Notre Dame College will be back in action in less than 24 hours when Glenville State College comes to town on Friday Oct. 30 at 7 p.m.
