INSTITUTE, W.Va. – Entering the Mountain East Conference Tournament, Notre Dame College was the fourth seed in the North Division and had to go up against the No. 1 seed, and host, West Virginia State University. The Falcons won the first set, on Thursday, and took WVSU to set point in the second and third sets. Ultimately, West Virginia State won the match 3-1.

The Falcons were ready to play in the first set. West Virginia State was given a red card for a jersey infraction before the match began, so NDC went up 1-0. Notre Dame's offense looked crisp as their next seven points were all kills, which included three by junior Kaye Dregalla.

"I thought the girls came out and played really aggressive," said co-head coach Anthony Mezacapa. "We had a tough matchup coming in and playing West Virginia State. The girls came in and gave it their all, left it all on the court. I thought we came in and executed on the game plan."

West Virginia State, who had the best record in the league, the MEC Coach of the Year and Player of the Year, looked a bit stunned by the Falcons activity all over the court and Notre Dame did not let up.

"We wanted to shut down Jenna Dufresne," Mezacapa said. "With her winning Player of the Year, we knew that she was going to be the key… We had to get production from our outside hitters, as well, and I think that's why we took that first set because we had Kaye Dregalla who finished with a .336 [hit percentage] at the end of the first set and Brittany Miller had a .222."

Dregalla added a couple more kills in the middle of the set and NDC went up 12-9. She would end the set with six.

The Falcons never allowed the Yellow Jackets to stage a late comeback. NDC went on a 7-2 run to pull ahead by a score of 22-14 and just about sealed the win. The final three points for the Falcons came on West Virginia State attack errors.

Coming into the tournament, West Virginia State had only lost four sets at home and had dropped the first set at home, once.

"Two things we've focused on are competitive enthusiasm and discipline," said co-head coach Hannah Watson. "We really put the energy and intangible skills in the control of the players. On the other side of that, we spend a lot of time watching film. I think we really put together a good scouting report and the players hit that discipline side with hitting shots, hitting release points on defense and buying in."

The second and third sets were back and forth nail biters. In the second, the lead was exchanged several times early on, and neither team could expand their lead past two points until Notre Dame put together a run. The Falcons rattled off four consecutive points, two aces by freshman Jayme Zoeckler and two kills by Dregalla, to pull ahead 18-13. W.Va. State responded immediately and put five points on the board to knot the score at 18. After that point, there were six ties. A 3-0 run gave NDC set point at 25-24, but the Yellow Jackets closed it out and won 27-25.

An early 5-1 run, which included a block by juniors Blaire Barr and Carli Derda, put NDC on top 8-4 in the third set. The Falcons fell behind, 18-13, but continued to fight. They scored eight of the next 10 points and led 21-20. The Falcons had set point, 24-23, but the Yellow Jackets took control of the match by winning the third set, 26-24.

WVSU won the fourth set by a score of 25-14 to advance in the MEC Tournament.

Along with Dregalla's 15 kills, Barr added nine. Freshman Jayme Zoeckler totaled 25 assists while sophomore McKenzie Andrix added 17 assists and 11 digs. Derda put down five blocks. Sophomore Ellie Schenk had 14 digs, but senior Amelia Kaeberlein led the way with her 28 digs on the defensive side, diving all over the floor to keep the ball off the ground.

"I think we gave it our all," Kaeberlein said. "Coming off of last season, the coaches have done a great job of changing our culture."

"I want to thank our seniors," Watson mentioned. "They have demonstrated, beyond volleyball, what type of character you should have as you go throughout college as a student-athlete."

Kaeberlein finishes her career with 1,460 digs, which puts her fifth in NDC history. She is also fourth in digs per set for her career at 4.08. This season, she averaged 6.2 digs per set, which is tied for second in a single-season.

Senior Katie Richardson ends her career fifth in NDC history in block assists at 173.