WEST LIBERTY, W.Va. – Despite fending off three match points, the Notre Dame College volleyball team (2-8, 1-1 MEC) dropped a tight four-set match at West Liberty (12-4, 2-0 MEC) on Tuesday evening.
In the first set, West Liberty jumped out to leads of 9-3 and 14-8, as the Hilltoppers controlled the frame 25-17.
Notre Dame responded during the second set as freshman
Sydney Bray produced back-to-back kills to gift NDC an 8-4 lead. Fellow freshmen
Diamond Baker and
Lilliana Mook stepped up next for the Falcons, as Baker served up back-to-back aces, sandwiched between a pair of Mook kills, as the Notre Dame advantaged swelled to 13-6. Junior
Samantha Comer joined in on the action with back-to-back kills of her own, highlighting a 6-1 NDC run, leading to a 19-8 Falcon edge. Notre Dame closed out the stanza with a punctuating kill by Bray (25-12).
The third set went back-and-forth with Notre Dame claiming a 10-8 lead following a kill by Baker. However, West Liberty ramped up the intensity, generating an 8-1 spurt to jump in front 15-11. WLU finished off the frame with five straight points to win 25-16.
NDC took an early lead in set four by rattling off 10 of 12 points to grab a 13-8 advantage. WLU quickly gathered their footing with a 5-0 run to knot the set at 13-13. West Liberty slowly worked the contest to 24-21 before Notre Dame anchored down to fend off three consecutive match points, highlighted by a Comer kill tie the set once again at 24-24. Despite a valiant effort, the Hilltoppers ended the match with a pair of points, 26-24.
Notre Dame College featured a balanced offensive attack, paced by Bray and Comer's 11 kills apiece. Mook (8),
Kelsie Palmer (7) and Baker (6) joined the attack, while junior
Jayme Zoeckler dished out a team-high 35 assists.
Defensively, Bray registered a game-high 18 digs, alongside
Kiley Kalina with 17 and Zoeckler with 10, as Bray and Zoeckler notch double-doubles on the night.
In comparing the two sides, Notre Dame totaled 47 kills on a .207 attack percentage, to go with 40 assists, 68 digs, seven aces and four blocks. West Liberty amasses 50 kills on a .238 attack percentage, to go with 48 assists, 60 digs, 10 aces and two blocks.
The Notre Dame College volleyball team will be back in action on Friday Sept. 29 at 7 p.m. for the Falcons home opener against Frostburg State University inside Murphy Gymnasium.
