SOUTH EUCLID, Ohio – The 2022 regular season finale offered a packed Murphy Gymnasium, where the Notre Dame College volleyball team (14-18, 8-8 MEC) earned a straight set victory over Alderson Broaddus (8-18, 2-12 MEC) on senior night. On Tuesday evening, seniors Blaire Barr (#7), Carli Derda (#14) and Kaye Dregalla (#24) were honored prior to the match.
 
With the win, the Falcons finish with a record of .500 or better inside the Mountain East Conference for the first time since 2019, and punch their ticket into the MEC Tournament for fifth year in a row.
 
"I thought everyone brought their A-game today. It was a really solid team win," exclaimed co-head coach Riley Coleman. "It's always nice to get ahead so that you can get some unfamiliar faces in the game. But everyone came in here and did their job, and that's exactly what we told them to do."
 
"Going into today, our game plan was for everyone to play together and have a good time for the last home game of the season," said co-head coach Kathleen Egan postgame. "They came out here and did what they were supposed to, we got some new people in the game and it was fun."
 
In the first set, Notre Dame jumped to a 14-8 lead, with Barr and Dregalla posting a pair of kills each. Alderson Broaddus worked their way back into the contest, trimming the Falcon lead to 16-15, following a 6-1 run. NDC responded with 8-1 run, as Derda polished the frame off 25-17.
 
Again, Notre Dame led 14-8 in set two, after a 5-0 run. Next, AB tied the contest at 14-14 with a 6-0 momentum swing. However, the Falcons answered the Battler run again with an 11-3 burst to close out the set. Freshman Ryleigh Ronald and Dregalla registered a pair of blocks in back-to-back points, winning the set 25-17.
 
The Falcons were determined for the sweep in set three as they soared to a 14-4 advantage, following a Battler attack error. Notre Dame continued to hold a commanding lead for the entire set as Dregalla rightfully logged the final kill of the contest, 25-17. With the win, the Falcons can set their sights on the MEC Tournament for the fifth consecutive season.
 
When asked about the MEC Tournament, Coleman and Egan had this to say;
 
"We've been working on our block a lot, the conference is really big this year," mentioned Coleman. "That is something we are definitely going to have to bring come the conference tournament. I am looking forward getting past the first round, it has been awhile since our program has gotten past the first round. So that is going to be a huge goal for us this year."
 
"We are really just looking for a win and we want to see the girls have fun playing together," stated Egan. "I think going into tournament play we should be focusing on our serve receive, keeping our offense in system so that we can get everybody involved."
 
The Notre Dame College offense was led by it's senior trio of Dregalla (8), Derda (7) and Barr (7). Derda continues to hit the ball efficiently as she turned in a .600 hit percentage on the night.
 
Sophomore Jayme Zoeckler posted a team-high 22 assists in the match.
 
Defensively, NDC was anchored by sophomore Kiley Kalina's game-high 12 digs, along with Zockler's eight and sophomore Lucy Smith's seven. At the net, Ronald blocked four Battler attacks, while Barr, Derda and Dregalla tallied three apiece. For Dregalla, three blocks ties her career-high.
 
In comparing the two sides, Notre Dame generated 33 kills on a .226 hit percentage to go with 28 assists, 48 digs, eight blocks and five aces. On the other hand, Alderson Broaddus showed 32 kills on a .061 hit percentage, to go with 30 assists, 44 digs, five blocks and three aces.
 
The Notre Dame College volleyball team will be back in action on Thursday Nov. 10 at 5 p.m. when the Falcons travel to the University of Charleston for the MEC Tournament First Round. The Falcons earned the No. 4 seed in the North Division, and will play the No. 1 seed in the South Division, the Golden Eagles, who are hosting the weekend event.