SOUTH EUCLID, Ohio – Career-highs from
Reagan Stempin,
Sydney Bray and
Diamond Baker paved the way to a four-set victory for the Notre Dame College volleyball team (4-10) over Salem University (5-12) on Tuesday evening inside Murphy Gymnasium.
A back-and-forth start to the match gave way to a 10-1 Salem run as the Tigers grabbed a 15-8 lead in set one. Notre Dame promptly responded with a 6-0 run to trim the SU lead down to one (16-15). The Falcons secured five of the final six points, including fending off a pair of set points to take the frame 27-25. Junior
Samantha Comer punctuated the set with a back-to-back kills.
The Falcons carried the momentum into the second set with a quick 16-9 lead following a 9-3 spurt. However, the Tigers responded by taking eight of the final nine points in the set, to steal the stanza 25-23.
Notre Dame was determined to rebound in set three, as NDC rattled off seven consecutive points, fueled by four Stempin kills, to lead 13-6. The sophomore continued to dominate the third set, tallying four more kills in the latter half of the frame to ensure the Falcons win 25-17.
Despite Salem leading 6-1 to begin set four, Notre Dame battled back with 13 of the next 15 points to lead 14-8. Senior
Kelsie Palmer was joined alongside Bray to block SU three times to begin the 13-2 rally. Kills by Stempin and Bray highlighted a late 5-1 Falcon run to grab a 25-19 victory in set four.
"I think that we had a mindset and knew what we had to do to go out and win," stated Bray. "We need to have grit and have the mentality that we are the better team. We need to do what we know how to do, like in practice and from what our coaches have told us to do."
The duo of Bray and Stempin paced the Notre Dame College offense with 13 and 12 kills, respectively. Stempin tallied a career-high with the performance, adding a game-high and career-high .300 attack percentage.
When asked what was clicking during her career-night Stempin said happily, "I think the support of my teammates really shined today. They really helped me through it all."
Junior
Jayme Zoeckler facilitated the offense with a game-high 37 assists.
Defensively, junior
Kiley Kalina nabbed a game-high 17 digs, alongside Comer with 13. At the net, NDC boasted a season-high 12 blocks as Bray (6) and Baker (5) each sported career-highs, while Palmer also had five blocks.
Four Falcons recorded two aces as NDC tied a season-high with 11 service aces, tied for the third-most in a four-set match in program history.
As a team, Notre Dame produced 46 kills on a .176 attack percentage, to go with 44 assists, 48 digs, 11 aces and 12 blocks. Salem owned 40 kills on a .105 attack percentage, to go with 36 assists, 43 digs, 10 aces and seven blocks.
The Notre Dame College volleyball team will be back in action on Friday Oct. 13 at 7 p.m. when Glenville State enters Murphy Gymnasium.
