This week: Notre Dame College volleyball will play just one match this week when they travel to Wheeling, WV to meet the Cardinals on Friday Oct. 8 at 7 p.m.
 
Records: Entering this week NDC is 11-7 overall and 2-1 in the Mountain East Conference. Wheeling begins this week at 11-4 overall and 2-0 in the MEC. The Cardinals have a match on Tuesday against Alderson Broaddus on the road, before they welcome the Falcons to town.
 
Coaches Corner: Hannah Watson and Anthony Mezacapa are in their first season as Co-Head Coach for NDC and they carry an 11-7 record with them into the week. Christy Benner is in her 20^th season with Wheeling volleyball and has a 624-136 record, including a national championship in 2015.
 
Rankings: Neither team is ranked in the AVCA Coaches Poll.
 
Series History: Notre Dame will be seeking their first victory against Wheeling as the Falcons are 0-16 all-time since 2013 against the Cardinals.
 
Noting the Falcons: Last week NDC began conference play with a 2-1 week. Notre Dame beat West Liberty on Tuesday in a thriller five-set comeback that saw NDC down 0-2. On Friday the Falcons had their home opener, but were swept by Fairmont State in three sets. Moreover, on Saturday the Falcons avenged their loss from the day before by beating Frostburg State in four sets. Kelsie Palmer has been the unstoppable offensive force for NDC as she led the team in kills in all three matches and totaled 38 kills during the week. Palmer is also the team leader in kills on the season with 190, which is also the second most kills in the Mountain East Conference. At the net, Carli Derda has been able to counter the opposition with her team leading 62 blocks, which is second most in the MEC. This past week, Derda led the Falcons in total blocks each game and finished off the week with a career high eight blocks against Frostburg State, the fifth most blocks by a player in a four-set match in NDC program history.
 
Moreover, Kaye Dregalla and Grace Smotek aid the Falcons attack as the two are both over 100 kills on the season with 144 and 117 respectively. This is an NDC team that is first in the Mountain East with 823 kills, the only team with over 800 kills on the season. This in part thanks to McKenzie Andrix and Jayme Zoeckler posting 399 and 250 assists respectively to facilitate Palmer, Dregalla, Smotek and company. On the defensive side and standing tall next to Derda has been Katie Richardson and Palmer who have 44 and 40 blocks respectively. This trio of blockers are the only players on the team north of 20 blocks on the season. In the backline, Amelia Kaeberlein leads the Falcons with 302 digs at a rate of 6.04 digs per set. Kaeberlein ranks second in the MEC in digs per set and third in total digs. Smotek (239), Andrix (157), Kiley Kalina (142), Zoeckler (104) and Ellie Schenk (101) are the other Falcons who fend off the opposition allowing Notre Dame to lead the MEC with 1,321 digs at a rate of 19.14 per set.

In total, NDC has amassed 11.9 kills per set, 11.4 assists per set, 1.5 service aces per set, 19.1 digs per set and 1.7 blocks per set. The Falcons have surrendered 11.8 kills per set, 11.0 assists per set, 1.6 service aces per set, 18.3 digs per set and 1.7 blocks per set.
 
Noting the Cardinals: Wheeling is fresh off of a 2-0 start to conference play with back-to-back three set sweeps of Fairmont State and Frostburg State on Tuesday and Friday last week. The Cardinals are a tough team who played a difficult nonconference schedule and are riding an eight-game win streak into the week. Led by their efficiency in the attack, Wheeling is second in the MEC with a .253 hit percentage. They are also second in the conference in kills (750) and kills per set (13.39).
 
The Cardinals are led by Riley Kindall on offense who has a team-high 144 kills on the season and a .249 hit percentage. On defense, Audrey Francis has a team-high 372 digs. Her 372 digs are the second most in the MEC, while her 6.64 digs per set are tops in the conference. In total, Wheeling posts 13.4 kills per set, 12.3 assists per set, 0.8 service aces per set, 16.8 digs per set and 1.7 blocks per set. To the opposition they allow, 13.8 kills per set, 12.8 assists per set, 1.1 service aces per set, 14.9 digs per set and 2.3 blocks per set.