This Week: The Notre Dame College volleyball team begins on the road at Frostburg State on Tuesday Sept. 27, before hosting Wheeling on Friday Sept. 30 in Murphy Gymnasium. Both matches are scheduled to start at 7 p.m.
 
Records: NDC sits at 7-11 and 1-1 inside the Mountain East Conference. FSU is currently 13-5 (1-1 MEC), while WU holds a record of 8-6 (2-0 MEC).
 
Coaches Corner: Riley Coleman and Kathleen Egan are co-head coaches of the Notre Dame College volleyball program, holding a career record of 2-1. Kylie Heyne is the head coach of Frostburg State in her third season, with a career record of 24-35. Christy Benner headlines Wheeling with 652 wins and 144 loss in her 21 seasons as head coach.
 
Rankings: None of these teams are ranked according to the American Volleyball Coaches Association (AVCA) week #5 poll.
 
Series History: Since their first meeting in 2019, NDC is 5-1 all-time against Frostburg State, as the teams split their two meetings last season. Since 2011, the Falcons are 0-18 against Wheeling, including the Cardinals pair of victories from a year ago.
 
Noting the Falcons: Last week, Notre Dame College began conference play with an electrifying win at home against West Liberty, 3-1. Senior Kaye Dregalla paced the offense with a season-high 17 kills as freshman Ryleigh Ronald blocked a career-high seven attacks. In their second match of the week, NDC fell 3-1 to Fairmont State as Dregalla once again led the offense with 11 kills.
 
Leading the way for the Falcons this season has been the aforementioned Dregalla who has generated a team-high 161 kills at 2.64 kills per set. Adding to the NDC offense has been sophomore Samantha Comer (110), senior Carli Derda (106), junior Kelsie Palmer (105) and freshman Ryleigh Ronald (89).
 
Setting up the Falcon attack has been sophomore Jayme Zoeckler who leads the team with 417 assists. The Trinity High School product ranks fourth in Mountain East Conference with 7.58 assists per set.
 
Sophomore libero Kiley Kalina holds down the NDC defense with 309 digs, seating her eighth in NCAA Division II. In addition, the Wooster, Ohio native currently ranks fourth in the MEC with 4.75 digs per set. Other Falcons contributing to the defensive efforts have been junior Ellie Schenk (152), sophomore Grace Smotek (148), freshman Sierra Nausieda (131) and Zoeckler (124).
 
At the net, Derda and Ronald provide a one-two combo with 53 and 51 blocks, respectively.
 
As a unit, Notre Dame College is producing 11.0 kills per set on a .160 hit percentage, to go along with 9.9 assists per set, 17.3 digs per set, 1.8 blocks per set and 1.6 service aces per set. Moreover, the Falcons are the top team in the country in terms of digs (1,140), while being 27^th in digs per set.
 
Noting the Bobcats: Last week, Frostburg State opened MEC play with a straight set victory at Alderson Broaddus on Tuesday evening. Beverly Braun posted a game-high 11 kills in the win. On Friday, the script was flipped as FSU fell in straight sets on the road to Wheeling.
 
Braun is the clear leader for this Bobcats team with 254 kills at 4.31 kills per set. The junior registers the most kills in the MEC and fourth most kills in the country while being 17^th in Division II in kills per set. AJ Thompson is the only other FSU player with triple digit kills, sitting at 120 on the year.
 
Hayley Delor is the main setter for the Frostburg State attack, logging 379 assists on the season at a rate of 6.77 assists per set.
 
In terms of service aces, Bianca Smalls leads the Mountain East with 0.58 per set.
 
Defensively, Fiona Gonzalez Medina leads the team with 260 digs at 4.41 digs per set. Braun (149), Delor (125) and Bianca Smalls (119) are the other Bobcats contributing defensively.
 
At the net, McKaily Thomson-Moran (53) and Thompson (52) are a threat in terms of blocking.
 
As a team, Frostburg State secures 11.3 kills per set on a .191 hit percentage, to go with 10.7 assists per set, 15.4 digs per set, 2.3 blocks per set and 2.3 service aces per set.
 
Noting the Cardinals: Last week, Wheeling kicked off conference play with a pair of victories. On Tuesday, WU handled Fairmont State on the road in four sets, before returning home on Friday to erase Frostburg State in straight sets. Mady Winters enjoyed a solid week of play by securing 21 kills and 10 kills, respectively in the wins.
 
Tylah Yoemans (197) leads a balanced Cardinal attack which features four players posting triple digit kills, as Allonda Watkins (150), Winters (117) and Riley Kindall (109) add to the WU offense. Yoemans flashes a clip of 3.79 kills per set, which is the second-best mark in the MEC. Moreover, the Cardinals are ultra-efficient in their attack as Watkins (.369) and Winters (.356) rank second and third in the conference in hit percentage.
 
Karly Niesen takes advantage of the Cardinals offensive efficiency by generating 587 assists on the season. Niesen is the top facilitator in the MEC, while being seventh in NCAA Division II in assists per set and 11^th in total assists.
 
On the other side of the ball, Berit Jones' 170 digs leads the team followed by Kindall's 130 and Niesen's 112. Jones is seated fifth in the MEC with 4.62 digs per set.
 
At the net, Wheeling deploys a solid wall comprised of Watkins and Winters. The duo ranks second (1.19) and seventh (1.00), respectively in the conference in terms of blocks per set.
 
As a whole, Wheeling tallies 13.6 kills per set on a .282 hit percentage, to go with 12.5 assists per set, 14.9 digs per set, 2.6 blocks per set and 0.9 service aces per set. Stacking up against the rest of the country, Wheeling is 25^th in kills per set, 15^th in hitting percentage, 20^th in assists per set and third in blocks per set.