This Week: The Notre Dame College volleyball team will travel to Alderson Broaddus University on Tuesday Oct. 4 at 7 p.m. before returning home. On Friday Oct. 7 at the Falcons host West Virginia State University at 7 p.m., before turning around to welcome the University of Charleston into Murphy Gymnasium on Saturday Oct. 8 at 1 p.m.
 
Records: NDC holds a record of 8-12, while being 2-2 inside the Mountain East Conference. AB posts a record of 6-8 (0-4 MEC). WVSU and UC both offer 4-0 records within the MEC as the Yellow Jackets are 17-1 on the season, while the Golden Eagles are 17-2.
 
Coaches Corner: Riley Coleman and Kathleen Egan are co-head coaches of the Notre Dame College volleyball program, holding a career record of 3-2. Julia Erickson is in her first season as head coach of Alderson Broaddus. Kris Kern is in his sixth season with the West Virginia State volleyball team, maintaining a career record of 117-49. Charleston is led by Tyler Kanelos in his second season at the helm. Kanelos holds a 39-13 career record.
 
Rankings: None of these teams are ranked according to the American Volleyball Coaches Association Week #6 Poll.
 
Series History: Notre Dame is 5-2 all-time against AB, since their first meeting in 2011 and including NDC's pair of victories last season. The Falcons are 4-6 when facing West Virginia State, dating back to 2013 and including the Yellow Jackets two wins from a year ago. NDC has a 1-8 all-time record when facing Charleston since 2013, this includes UC's win last season.
 
Noting the Falcons: Last week, Notre Dame split their two contests, beginning with a straight set victory at Frostburg State. Junior Kelsie Palmer led the NDC offense with 11 kills in the match. On Friday, several Falcons turned in career nights but NDC fell 3-1 to Wheeling. Freshman Ryleigh Ronald and senior Carli Derda led the team with 12 and 11 kills respectively, as sophomore Jayme Zoeckler facilitated the attack by registering 47 assists.
 
Offensively, the Falcons are led by senior Kaye Dregalla's 181 kills at 2.66 kills per set. She is joined by four other Falcons all with triple digit kills, including Palmer (126), Derda (119), sophomore Samantha Comer (115) and Ronald (110).
 
The five Falcon attackers have been set up by sophomore Jayme Zoeckler's 502 assists at 8.10 assists per set. Zoeckler recently became the 10^th player in program history to register 1,000 career assists after she turned in the aforementioned career-high 47 assists. The Trinity High School product currently ranks fourth in the MEC in assists and assists per set.
 
Defensively, sophomore libero Kiley Kalina anchors the NDC back line with 342 digs at 4.75 digs per set. The Wooster, Ohio native is currently seated second in the MEC in digs and fourth in digs per set. In addition, the Smithville High School product ranks 13^th in NCAA Division II for total digs.
 
Kalina is joined by a quartet of Falcons all within 30 digs of each other. Junior Ellie Schenk (170), sophomore Grace Smotek (163), freshman Sierra Nausieda (145) and Zoeckler (141) all aid the defensive efforts for NDC.
 
At the net, Ronald and Derda do a solid job at middle blocker by recording 57 and 55 blocks, respectively.
 
As a team, Notre Dame generates 11.2 kills per set on a .161 hit percentage, to go along with 10.2 assists per set, 17.4 digs per set, 1.8 blocks per set and 1.5 service aces per set. The Falcons rank sixth in country with 1,269 total digs and 23^rd in digs per set.
 
Noting the Battlers: Last week, Alderson Broaddus fell in straight sets during both of their matches. In fact, the Battlers have lost all four of their conference contests (Frostburg State, West Liberty, Wheeling and Fairmont State) by way of the sweep. Joice Fisher and Keara Lewis led the offense during both contests.
 
Fisher is the clear leader for the Battlers attack as she is the only player above 70 kills on the season. Fisher reports in at 168 kills at 3.57 kills per set (4^th in MEC), followed by Zoey Kiefer (66) and Irving (63).
 
Kaitlyn Jager is the setter for AB with 322 assists, averaging out to 6.85 per set.
 
The Battler's defense is paced by Jordan Grimes and Jager who tally 133 and 111 digs, respectively.
 
AB does not offer much of a threat in terms of serving or blocking as their leaders show marks of 17 and 25, respectively.
 
As a unit, Alderson Broaddus flashes 10.1 kills per set on a .128 hit percentage, to go with 9.1 assists per set, 12.5 digs per set, 1.2 blocks per set and 1.9 service aces per set.
 
Noting the Yellow Jackets: Last week, West Virginia State cruised to a pair of straight set victories over Davis & Elkins and West Virginia Wesleyan. Diamond'Nique Young led the offensive effort for the Yellow Jackets during both matches with 26 kills on the week. WVSU is currently riding a 15-match win streak into the new week.
 
In addition to a solid week of play, Young has paced the WVSU attack all season with a team-high 199 kills at 3.45 per set, while hitting a .452 percentage. Young sits atop the MEC in hitting percentage and is fifth in the country, while ranking fifth in the conference in kills per set.
 
Kiersten Eggleton is the only other Yellow Jacket with triple digit kills, clocking in at 143 (2.60 kills per set). Alex Darby and Natalie Beer rank fifth and ninth in the MEC in hitting percentage as all four Yellow Jackets contribute major offensive output.
 
WVSU deploys a pair of setters in Peri Martin and Eggleton who have 262 and 227 assists, respectively.
 
Eggleton also gets the job done when on serve with a team-high 27 aces, to go with the seventh most service aces per set in the MEC at 0.47.
 
Defensively, the trio of Darby (208), Ashlynne Davis (15) and Eggleton (146) hold down the WVSU backline.
 
At the net, Young is fifth in the MEC in blocks per set (1.14) with a team-high 66 blocks on the season.
 
As a whole, West Virginia State boasts 13.8 kills per set on a .277 hitting percentage, to go with 12.5 assists per set, 15.0 digs per set, 2.2 blocks per set and 2.3 aces per set. Amongst NCAA Division II, the Yellow Jackets rank 12^th in hit per centage, 15^th in kills per set, 21^st in assists per set and tied for 26^th in service aces per set.
 
Noting the Golden Eagles: Last week, the University of Charleston extended their winning streak to 11 straight games after a 3-0 victory vs. Concord and a 3-1 win at Glenville State. McKenzie Damon led the squad during both matches by generating 30 kills on the week.
 
The Golden Eagles feature a potent offense with a pair of players above the 200 kills mark. Sage Bearnson (223) and Damon (211) lead the Charleston attack at 3.43 and 3.20 kills per set, respectively. Bearnson and Damon rank fourth and fifth in the conference in kills, while being sixth and seventh in kills per set, respectively.
 
The duo is joined by Pia Selke (154) and McKenzie Carpenter (128) who also show triple digit kills. Carpenter is currently eighth in the Mountain East in terms of hitting percentage (.318).
 
Maria Hernandez is one of two players in the MEC with more than 10 assists per set, flashing a mark of 10.55 to rank second. She leads UC with 675 assists on the season.
 
Defensively, six Golden Eagles have totaled more than 100 digs, including three players north of 200 on the year. Erin Carmody is the leader of the pack with 304 digs at 4.90 digs per set. Carmody is joined by Damon (207) and Hernandez (205) as UC is a top five team in the country in terms of digs per set (18.6).
 
At the net, Reagan McLean is the top blocker in the league and third best in the nation with a rate of 1.45 blocks per set. McLean has totaled 77 blocks in in just 53 sets.
 
As a team, the University of Charleston total 13.1 kills per set on a .244 hitting percentage, to go with 12.1 assists per set, 18.6 digs per set, 2.0 blocks per set and1.9 aces per set. The Golden Eagles are the number five team in the country in terms of digs per set, while being 28^th in hitting percentage.