This Week: The Notre Dame College volleyball team begins Mountain East Conference play with West Liberty and Fairmont State on the slate. NDC will welcome WLU into Murphy Gymnasium on Tuesday Sept. 20 at 7 p.m. before traveling to FSU on Friday Sept. 23 for a 3 p.m. match.
 
Records: Notre Dame is currently 6-10 after rattling off three consecutive sweeps. West Liberty sits at 10-5, while Fairmont State posts a 14-1 record.
 
Coaches Corner: NDC is led by Riley Coleman and Kathleen Egan. WLU welcomes back Riley Schenk for her third season at the helm of the Hilltopper volleyball program. Travis Hinkle is in his second season as head coach of the Fairmont State volleyball team.
 
Rankings: None of these teams are ranked according to the American Volleyball Coaches Association (AVCA) week four poll.
 
Series History: NDC is 8-12 all-time against West Liberty, dating back to 2011 and including their two-game split from a year ago. The NDC Falcons are 4-19 all-time when playing the FSU Falcons, dating back to 2011 and including Fairmont State's pair of wins last season.
 
Noting the NDC Falcons: Notre Dame College is fresh off a pair of straight set victories last week over John Carroll and D'Youville. Senior Carli Derda had a stellar two games by notching her career-high with 10 kills against JCU, before serving up six aces against the Saints. Her six aces were tied for the most in her career and the third most in a match in NDC program history.
 
Fellow senior Kaye Dregalla continues to lead the Notre Dame offense on the year with 133 kills at 2.51 kills per set. Sophomore Samantha Comer (102), Derda (93), junior Kelsie Palmer (83) and freshman Ryleigh Ronald (77) add to a balanced Falcon attack.
 
Sophomore Jayme Zoeckler and junior McKenzie Andrix share the setting duties for NDC with 342 and 139 assists, respectively. The duo sets up the NDC attack at a rate of 7.28 and 6.95 assists per set, respectively.
 
Defensively, sophomore libero Kiley Kalina leads the team with 273 digs at 4.79 digs per set. Kalina currently ranks tied for seventh in the country in total digs. Four other Falcons have generated more than 100 digs on the season to aid Kalian, as junior Ellie Schenk (135), sophomore Grace Smotek (128), freshman Sierra Nausieda (113) and Zoeckler (101) have contributed efforts.
 
At the net, Derda and Ronald have done a solid job as middle blockers with 49 and 38 blocks, respectively to lead the team.
 
As a team, Notre Dame posts 10.8 kills per set on a .157 hit percentage, to go along with 9.7 assists per set, 17.4 digs per set, 1.4 service aces per set and 1.7 blocks per set. Amongst the rest of NCAA Division II, the Falcons are third in team digs (1,008) and 25^th in digs per set.
 
Noting the Hilltoppers: Last week, West Liberty split their pair of matches with a straight set victory on the road over Salem on Friday. WLU then fell on Saturday at home to Daemen, also in straight sets.
 
The Hilltoppers are paced by the trio of Ruby Countryman (127), Nina Billotto (111) and Riley Cudnik (97) as they lead the team in kills. In addition, they are the only Hilltoppers above two kills per set, with Cudnik leading the pack at 2.71 kills per set.
 
Haley Zeck is the main setter for West Liberty, generating 341 assists at 6.43 assists per set.
 
Defensively, Nyia Setla is the leader with 297 digs at 5.60 digs per set. Setla ranks eighth in country in digs per set. In addition, Setla is joined by Katelynn Fritz (171), Haley Zeck (115) and Kaija Sydlowski (104) who all post triple digit digs.
 
Lastly, Countryman poses a threat at the net, as she is currently ranked eighth in the country with 60 blocks on the season, at a rate of 1.13 blocks per set.
 
As a team, West Liberty generates 12.1 kills per set on a .176 hit percentage, to go along with 11.1 assists per set, 17.8 digs per set, 2.1 blocks per set and 1.7 service aces per set. WLU currently ranks tied for 11^th in NCAA Division II in digs per set.
 
Noting the FSU Falcons: A week ago, Fairmont State completed a pair of straight set victories. First, the Falcons took out Shepherd on Tuesday on the road, before returning home to erase Daemen in similar fashion on Friday.
 
The Falcons are led by four players who have north of 100 kills on the season. Nyla Birch leads the pack with 143 kills, followed by Joey Borelle (129), Keara Lewis (116) and Madison Chapman (112).
 
Lauren Albrecht and Kelsie Dangerfield tag team the setting duties for FSU with 276 and 179 assists, respectively. The duo produces assists at a rate of 5.31 and 4.26 per set, respectively.
 
Bryce Knapp holds down the back line for Fairmont State as the only player with triple digit digs. Knapp posts 262 digs on the year, at 4.94 digs per set.
 
The FSU Falcons excel at the net with Emma Ludwig leading the group with 61 blocks. Ludwig and teammate Amelia Moore (59) both rank in the top 10 nationally, at sixth and ninth respectively. In addition, Birch (43), Chapman (26) and Borelle (21) all log north of 20 blocks on the season.
 
As a group, Fairmont State registers 13.2 kills per set on a .233 hit percentage, to go along with 11.9 assists per set, 16.0 digs per set, 2.6 blocks per set and 1.9 service aces per set. FSU currently ranks second in the country in total blocks (135), while being seventh in blocks per set.