FAIRMONT, W.Va. – The Notre Dame College volleyball team (7-11, 1-1 MEC) traveled to Fairmont State University (15-2, 1-1 MEC) of Friday afternoon for a battle of the Falcons. FSU claimed round one, 3-1 as the two sides will meet again on Tuesday Oct. 25 in South Euclid.
Fairmont State controlled the beginning of the match with a 14-6 lead. Despite a 7-3 run by Notre Dame in the latter half of the frame, FSU grabbed set one 25-20. Junior
Kelsie Palmer generated a game-high seven kills in the stanza.
The second set began with five ties as the scoreboard read, 9-9. Notre Dame used a 5-0 run, punctuated by a
Carli Derda kill, to leap ahead 13-9. FSU responded with a 5-0 run of their own to reclaim the advantage, 14-13. NDC answered the FSU run with a 7-3 spree, moving back in front, 20-17. At the end, the FSU Falcons dug deep and polished off the second set, 25-22.
Notre Dame leapt out to a strong 15-6 lead in the third set, after excellent play from Derda and sophomore
Samantha Comer. Fairmont State would respond with a 7-1 run, narrowing the gap to 16-13 NDC. The two sides would battle back and forth for the remainder of the set, but Derda would deliver Notre Dame the set, 25-22.
During the final set, Fairmont State would hold an early 9-4 advantage. NDC would face an uphill climb for the remainder of the match as the Falcons worked the score back to 20-16 FSU. Despite a valiant effort, Fairmont State came away with the victory 25-18.
Notre Dame was led offensively by senior
Kaye Dregalla's team-high 11 kills, followed by Palmer's nine and Comer's eight. Sophomore
Jayme Zoeckler totaled a game-high 35 assists while setting up the Falcon attack.
Defensively, NDC was anchored by sophomore
Kiley Kalina's team-high 18 digs, along with freshman
Sierra Nausieda who logged 10. At the net, freshman
Ryleigh Ronald continued to dominate with a game-high six blocks.
As a team, NDC posted 44 kills on a .138 hit percentage to go with, 41 assists, 65 digs, eight blocks and 11 service aces.
The Notre Dame College volleyball team will be back in action on Tuesday Sept. 27 at 7 p.m. when the Falcons travel to Frostburg State University.
