SOUTH EUCLID, Ohio – Murphy Gymnasium was rocking on Tuesday evening as the Notre Dame College volleyball team hosted Lake Erie College for the Falcons 2022 home opener. NDC bested LEC in straight sets, despite a rollercoaster of an opening set. Sophomore Jayme Zoeckler's all-around performance fueled the Falcons victory.
 
In the first set, the Storm jumped in front 7-1, until the Falcons grabbed five of the next seven points to get back into the match (9-6 LEC). Notre Dame went on to tie the score at 15-15 after a Storm error. The Falcons grabbed their first lead of the match at 17-16 after a kill by freshman Ryleigh Ronald. The two sides would go back and forth for the remainder of the set with the score being tied eight different times until NDC came out on top 29-27. The Falcons closed out the set by grabbing four of the final five points.
 
The second set continued the back and forth trend with nine ties as the scoreboard read 14-14. Then Notre Dame rattled off seven straight points to grab a commanding 21-14 lead. Senior Kaye Dregalla had a pair of kills during the Falcon run. NDC closed out the set 25-18 after another pair of Dregalla kills, capped off with a kill by senior Carli Derda.
 
The Falcons soared to an early lead during the final set (6-2) after senior Blaire Barr registered back-to-back kills. Notre Dame moved in front 14-6 following a four-point run, highlighted by a pair of Zoeckler service aces. Later in the set, NDC went on a six-point run where Derda generated back-to-back kills to move the Falcons comfortably ahead, 20-8. A Storm service error sealed the deal, 25-16 in favor of Notre Dame College.
 
When asked about the adjustments made between sets, head coach Anthony Mezacapa said "We really focused on capitalizing on our hitting errors. The stat sheets showed that we had nine errors in the first set… then we finished with four errors in the second set and only two in third. That was really our big difference."
 
To Mezacapa's point, the NDC offense improved their hitting percentage from set to set, with 0.175 in the first, 0.229 in the second and 0.300 in the final stanza.
 
The attack was paced by Dregalla's team-high 12 kills, followed by sophomore Samantha Comer with seven. Furthermore, Derda added six kills on an efficient .667 hitting percentage. Zoeckler recorded a game-high 31 assists in the match as she set up the Falcons all night long.
 
Sophomore Grace Smotek tallied a game and season-high four service aces as Zoeckler tied her career best with three. NDC posted eight service aces in the match.
 
Defensively, junior Ellie Schenk hauled in a team-high 13 digs, while sophomore Kiley Kalina grabbed 11 and Smotek posted seven. At the net, Comer had a game-high four blocks, including three solo.
 
Notre Dame generated 36 kills on 95 total attacks (.221 hit percentage), to go with 34 assists, 55 digs and eight blocks. In comparison, Lake Erie also posted 36 kills, on 123 total attacks (.089 hit percentage), to go with 35 assists, 42 digs and two blocks.
 
"What was really working was our defense, who was really on fire tonight. It was all them," mentioned Zoeckler happily. "Our hitters were able to produce all night, it was awesome. They were so hungry for the ball, there was not a second where one player was not on. I could set anyone at any time."
 
The Notre Dame College volleyball team will look to keep the momentum rolling on Friday and Saturday Sept. 9-10 for the MEC/PSAC Crossover at West Liberty University. The Falcons opponents for the weekend will be Slippery Rock, Shippensburg, Clarion and Millersville.