FAIRMONT, W.Va. – A resilient Notre Dame College volleyball team (3-9, 2-2 MEC) battled to five sets against Fairmont State University (8-10, 2-2 MEC) on Tuesday evening, before falling in heartbreaking fashion 15-13 in the final frame. Several Falcons notched career-highs while rewriting NDC program history.
 
Freshman Sydney Bray kicked off the contest with four kills as Notre Dame lead 7-4. Next, Bray registered back-to-back kills as NDC pushed their advantage to 14-10. However, Fairmont State generated nine consecutive points to move ahead 19-14, before taking set one 25-19.
 
The second set went back-and-forth until Notre Dame took command of the frame despite trailing 16-14. The Falcons rattled off nine of the next 11 points to soar in front 23-18 with junior Samantha Comer tallying four kills during the rally. Bray polished off the stanza with another kill, 25-23 Notre Dame.
 
Fairmont State came out firing in set three, taking a quick 8-2 lead. Notre Dame clawed their way back into the contest (15-15) after a 5-0 run, highlighted by junior Jayme Zoeckler's three consecutive aces, half of her game-high and season-high six service aces. NDC trailed 20-17 before claiming nine of the final 13 points, capped off by a trio of kills from Comer and Bray, to steal the stanza 26-24.
 
In the fourth set, FSU generated a 15-5 lead and despite Notre Dame fighting to pull the set to 23-18, Fairmont State prevailed, 25-19.
 
The final frame was tight with Fairmont State owning a narrow 7-5 edge. Notre Dame answered by grabbing six of the next nine points, including kills by Bray, Comer and senior Kelsie Palmer to maneuver to an 11-10 lead. FSU posted a pivotal 3-0 spree to hold a 14-12 lead, and despite NDC fending off a match-point, Fairmont State claimed round one of the Falcon Bowl, 15-13 in five sets.
 
Notre Dame College was led by Bray and Comer's 24 kills apiece, which ties each of their career-highs and is tied for the seventh-most kills in a match in NDC program history, including tied for the fourth-most kills in a five-set match in program history.
 
Zoeckler produced a stellar performance setting up a career-high 60 assists, the third-most in any match in NDC program history, and the most by a Falcon since Tayler Pugliese lifted 62 dimes on Oct. 19, 2010. Furthermore, the Northfield, Ohio native owns 1,664 assists which is eighth on NDC all-time leaderboard, 22 assists away from surpassing Tawny Flareau for seventh. As aforementioned, the Trinity High School product also served up a season-high six aces, tied for the fourth-most in any match in NDC program history, including tied for the second-most in a five-set match in program history.
 
Defensively, junior Kiley Kalina grabbed a team-high and season-high 23 digs, as Zoeckler (17), Bray (16) and Comer (13) each produced a double-double performance. At the net, Palmer (6) and Bray (5) each tied career-highs in blocks.
 
As a whole, Notre Dame totaled 72 kills on a .176 attack percentage, to go with 70 assists, 85 digs, nine aces and seven blocks. The team rewrote the program record book as NDC posted the most assists and third-most kills in any match in program history. Furthermore, 72 kills are the most since the Falcons had 73 at Carlow on Oct. 19, 2010.
 
In comparison to Fairmont State, FSU held 58 kills on a .249 attack percentage, to go with 53 assists, 80 digs, eight aces and nine blocks.
 
The Notre Dame College volleyball team will be back in action on Friday Oct. 6, at 7 p.m. when NDC travels to Wheeling University.