BUCKHANNON, W.Va. – Several Falcons notched career-highs on Friday evening during a historic come-from-behind, five-set victory for the Notre Dame College volleyball team (2-7, 1-0 MEC), as they defeated West Virginia Wesleyan College (4-7, 0-1 MEC). Freshman Sydney Bray generated a game-high and career-high 24 kills in the contest, 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 NDC program history. Junior Jayme Zoeckler dished out a career-high 53 assists.
 
Notre Dame began the match with a quick 15-7 advantage, before cruising to a 25-14 set victory. Bray set the tone for NDC by leading all players with seven kills in the first set.
 
The second set was a back-and-forth battle with Notre Dame leading 14-10, following a Bray service ace. Next, WVWC used a pair of 3-0 spurts to gather a 19-18 edge. The Bobcats rounded out the stanza on a 5-1 run, stealing the frame 25-23.
 
WVWC brought momentum into the third set by jumping out to an 8-3 lead. The Falcons clawed their way back into the set, taking six of seven points to trim the WV Wesleyan lead to one (18-17). Despite a late surge from NDC with kills from Bray and Baker, WVWC closed out the set 25-23.
 
Determined to fight back into the match, Notre Dame stormed out in set four and claimed nine of the first 12 points (9-3). NDC pushed their advantage to 17-7, following a 6-1 run which featured three kills by Samantha Comer. A Bobcat attack error aided the Falcons in polishing off set four, 25-13.
 
With the score tied 3-3 in the fifth set, Notre Dame got the offense in a groove, producing seven of the next eight points to leap in front 10-4. Five kills and a pair of aces highlighted the pivotal run for NDC. Kelsie Palmer and the Falcons closed out the contest and completed the comeback with a kill at 15-8.
 
As aforementioned, Bray paced the Notre Dame College offense with a game-high and career-high 24 kills (.304 attack percentage), tied for the seventh-most kills in NDC program history and tied for the fourth-most kills in a five-set match in NDC program history. In addition, Bray totaled the most kills by an NDC Falcon since teammate Samantha Comer posted 24 kills on Oct. 22, 2022 at Concord.
 
Comer followed suit on the offensive side of the ball by registering 18 kills (.273 attack percentage). Bray, Comer and the rest of the Falcons were set up by Zoeckler's game-high and career-high 53 assists.
 
Furthermore, Bray and Comer enjoyed career-highs in the service game with four and three aces, respectively.
 
On defense, junior libero Kiley Kalina boasted a team-high 20 digs, while Bray (12) and Zoeckler (10) produced double-double performances. At the net, Baker blocked a team-high and career-high four Bobcat attacks, alongside Palmer with three.
 
As a team, Notre Dame tallied 62 assists which is tied for the third-most in a match in program history and tied for the third-most in a five-set match in program history. Moreover, the Falcons produced their most assists in a contest since Sept. 28, 2021 at West Liberty (64). Notre Dame also boasted tied for the 10^th most kills in a match (65) in program history, including the most kills since Sept. 16, 2017 vs. Lock Haven (65). Lastly, NDC created the tenth-most aces in a five-set match in program history (11) and their most in a five-set match since serving up 14 at Ohio Valley on Aug. 25, 2018.
 
Following a resilient come-from-behind five-set victory, the Notre Dame College volleyball team will be back in action on Tuesday, Sept. 26 at 7 p.m. as the Falcons travel to West Liberty University to face the Hilltoppers.