This week: The Notre Dame College volleyball team will face tough competition this week when they travel to Fairmont State University on Tuesday Nov. 2 at 7 p.m., before hosting Wheeling University on Friday Nov. 5 at 7 p.m. The contest against WU will be Senior Day for the Falcons in their final home game of 2021.
 
Records: NDC enters the week at 15-12, 6-6 MEC and in fourth place in the MEC North Division. Fairmont State is currently 18-8, 8-4 MEC and in second place in the MEC North Division. Wheeling will begin the week at 20-5, 11-1 MEC and in first place in the MEC North Division.
 
Coaches Corner: Hannah Watson and Anthony Mezacapa are Co-Head Coaches in their first season with NDC and have a career record of 15-12. Travis Hinkle is 18-8 in his first season with FSU after a three-year stint with Notre Dame College. Christy Benner is in her 20^th season with Wheeling and has amassed north of 600 wins and a national championship back in 2015.
 
Rankings: None of these teams are ranked in the AVCA Coaches Poll.
 
Series History: NDC is 4-18 all-time against Fairmont State since 2011, including their match earlier this year on Oct. 1 when FSU won 3-0. Against Wheeling, NDC is 0-17 all-time against Wheeling since 2013, including their match earlier this year on Oct. 8 when WU won 3-0.
 
Noting the NDC Falcons: Last week Notre Dame went 2-1 with a loss to begin the week against West Liberty. On that Tuesday evening, NDC fell to WLU 25-20, 19-25, 19-25, 19-25. Katie Richardson posted a season-high 11 kills on .588 hit percentage pace the Falcons attack. Richardson added a team-high four blocks, while Jayme Zoeckler grabbed a team-high 25 assists, as Amelia Kaeberlein generated a team-high 14 digs. On Thursday, Notre Dame rebounded with a win over Concord, 23-25, 25-23, 25-13, 25-20. Kaye Dregalla posted a season-high 18 kills as Richardson stayed red-hot in this contest with another season-high 13 kills on .385 hit percentage to again lead the Falcon attack. Zoeckler tallied a career-high 28 assists as Kaeberlein generated a match-high 32 digs, the 6^th most digs in a four-set match in program history. On Friday, Notre Dame rolled again to another victory over Glenville State 25-12, 25-17, 25-20. It was Dregalla again with nine kills to lead NDC as Zoeckler posted her fifth straight team-high of 14 assists. Carly Emerson rejected three attacks and Kaeberlein did her job to perfection with a match-high 19 digs.
 
Coming off a strong showing last week, Kaeberlein has been named the MEC Defensive Player of the Week for the second time this season. The senior libero heads NDC's defensive prowess with 491 total digs, at a rate of 5.99 digs per set. The Canton Central Catholic product ranks 3^rd in the Mountain East Conference in total digs and 2^nd in digs per set.

Kelsie Palmer (254) and Dregalla (207) are the one-two punch for Notre Dame on the attack as the duo are the only two players north of 200 kills on the team. The two attackers are set up by McKenzie Andrix (534) and Zoeckler (405) who lead the team by a wide margin in total assists.
 
On average this season, NDC has put up 11.8 kills per set, 11.2 assists per set, 1.5 service aces per set, 18.8 digs per set and 1.8 blocks per set. They have surrendered 12.2 kills per set, 11.4 assists per set, 1.5 service aces per set, 18.6 digs per set and 1.7 blocks per set.
 
Noting the FSU Falcons: Fairmont State is coming off a brutal week where they faced Wheeling, West Virginia State and Charleston. The Fighting Falcons went 1-2 on the tough week which started on Tuesday with a 3-0 (25-8, 25-21, 25-21) loss to Wheeling. On Friday, FSU played West Virginia State in another 3-0 beat down of Fairmont State, 25-17, 25-23, 25-16. On Saturday, Fairmont State finally jumped into the win column with a five-set win over Charleston, 21-25, 25-23, 13-25, 25-18, 15-12.
 
Julia DiPaola is the main offensive force behind the Fairmont State attack, as she posts 264 kills (.223 hit percentage) which is the 7^th most kills in the MEC this season.
 
On average for the season, FSU boasts a clip of 12.6 kills per set, 11.5 assists per set, 1.5 service aces per set, 18.3 digs per set and 1.8 blocks per set. The Fighting Falcons allow the opposition to 11.0 kills per set, 10.3 assists per set, 1.2 service aces per set, 17.0 digs per set and 1.7 blocks per set.
 
Noting the Cardinals: Wheeling is coming off a 3-0-week last week, where the Cardinals didn't drop a single set. On Tuesday, WU beat Fairmont State 25-8, 25-21, 25-21. On Friday, the Cardinals downed West Virginia Wesleyan 25-18, 25-18, 25-9. On Saturday, Wheeling rounded out their successful week with a 25-11, 25-16, 25-14 win over Davis & Elkins.
 
The Cardinals pose a four-headed monster on their attack as Mady Winters (204), Lexi Reinert (204), Lexi Smith (193) and Riley Kindall (191) are all within 13 kills of each other. The total kills numbers posted by the four Cardinals causes havoc for opposing defenses, such that teams cannot game plan to stop one or two players or else the other Cardinals will make teams pay.
 
On average for the season, Wheeling plays to 13.7 kills per set, 12.8 assists per set, 1.0 service aces per set, 16.9 digs per set and 1.8 blocks per set. Wheeling allows 12.9 kills per set, 12.0 assists per set, 1.0 service aces per set, 14.5 digs per set and 2.3 blocks per set.