This Week: The Notre Dame College volleyball team begins their 2023 campaign at the UIndy Invitational. The Falcons will face the host school at noon on Friday Sept. 8, before turning around to play Central State at 6 p.m. Next, NDC will play on Saturday Sept. 9 at 9 a.m. against Northwood, before wrapping up with Florida Southern College at 3 p.m.
 
Records: NDC begins with a record of 0-0 after finishing last season at 14-19 (8-8 MEC). UIndy and Northwood enter the invitational with 3-1 records after last week. Florida Southern and Central State also kicked off their seasons last weekend, as FSC is 2-0 and CSU is 0-5.
 
Coaches Corner: Erica Kostelac takes over the Notre Dame College volleyball program in her first season as head coach. Jason Reed heads the UIndy volleyball team in his 11^th season, maintainin a career record of 164-134. Anitra Brockman is 4-31 in her second season at the helm of Central State. David Shumaker is the head coach of Northwood, holding a career record of 65-90 over nine seasons. Lastly, Ashlee Crowder is in her first season as head coach of Florida Southern.
 
Rankings: Florida Southern is currently receiving 14 votes to be ranked amongst the top 25 in the nation according to the American Volleyball Coaches Association (AVCA) week one poll.
 
Series History: NDC will face UIndy, Northwood and Florida Southern for the first time in program history. The Falcons are 5-0 all-time when facing Central State, dating back to their first meeting in 2011 and including Notre Dame's most recent victory in 2018.
 
Noting the Falcons: Notre Dame is coming off a successful 2022 season in which the Falcons made the Mountain East Conference Tournament for the fifth year in a row, as NDC boasted an 8-8 record inside the MEC, their first time at or above the .500 mark since 2019.
 
Notre Dame also flashed three All-MEC performers, highlighted by the lone returner in sophomore Ryleigh Ronald. Ronald secured Honorable Mention and a spot on the All-Freshman Team following a quality freshman campaign. The middle blocker will be a key contributor for Kostelac and the Falcons in 2023, as she was first in attack percentage (.281, 10^th in NDC single season history), second in blocks (97) and fourth on the team in kills (186).
 
Junior Samantha Comer is also back for NDC having registered the second most kills (235), including the most kills per set (2.76) on the team. Fellow juniors Jayme Zoeckler and Caris Cross offer experience as the top two setters on the team from a year ago with 731 and 222 assists, respectively.
 
Defensively, three of the top four Falcons return in terms of digs, led by junior libero Kiley Kalina (594). Junior Grace Smotek (296) and Zoeckler (194) also add support to the NDC defense.
 
Amongst the MEC last season, NDC ranked eighth in hitting percentage (.164), eighth in assists per set (10.23), eighth in kills per set (11.26), seventh in blocks per set (1.88), tenth in aces per set (1.51) and fifth in digs per set (17.09).
 
Noting the Greyhounds: Last week, UIndy began their 2023 season with three-straight wins at the Ferris State Invite over Malone (3-0), Adelphi (3-1) and Wayne State (3-1), before falling to the host school in straight sets.
 
Grace Hegwood leads the Greyhounds attack which features five players with 20 or more kills as the senior tallies 50 kills at 3.57 kills per set. Claire Morris sets up the attack with 142 assists at 10.14 assists per set.
 
Defensively, five Greyhounds have registered at least 30 digs, led by freshman defensive specialist Ellie Spang with 68 digs at 4.86 digs per set. Hannah Sabotin controls the net with 15 blocks to pace the squad.
 
As a team, UIndy totals 13.6 kills per set, 12.4 assist per set, 2.3 aces per set, 16.4 digs per set and 2.2 blocks per set.
 
Noting the Marauders: Central State kicked off their 2023 season with five losses, including four by straight sets. The Marauders fell to Wisconsin Parkside, D'Youville, New Haven, West Liberty and Wilmington (DIII).
 
Casey Williams leads a balanced Central State attack with 15 kills, followed by Zahra Coates and Londyn Sewer with 14 and Braelynn Reese with 13. Brooke Morris and Nevaeh Brownlee tag team the assist department with 45 and 23 assists, respectively.
 
On defense, Janeth Hildago (37), Morris (32) and Coates (31) lead the team in digs, as a plethora of Marauders show blocks on the season.
 
On the year, Central State averages, 6.6 kills per set, 6.3 assists per set, 1.5 aces per set, 12.5 digs per set and 1.3 blocks per set.
 
Noting the Timberwolves: Northwood opened their season 3-1 with wins over Lake Superior State (3-1), Minnesota-Crookston (3-2) and Northern Michigan (3-1), while falling to Winona State (3-1).
 
Sydney Hasenfratz is the leader of a high-power Northwood offense which features five players with 24 or more kills. Hasenfratz is the number one option for the Timberwolves with 53 kills at 3.12 kills per set. Renee Brines sets up the Northwood attack with 146 assists at 8.59 assists per set.
 
Defensively, seven players have double digit digs, paced by senior libero MacKelle Thompson's 48 digs at 3.00 digs per set. Hasenfratz is a threat from both sides of the net as she leads the team with 15 blocks.
 
As a whole, the Timberwolves flash 10.9 kills per set, 10.1 assists per set, 1.3 aces per set, 11.7 digs per set and 1.7 blocks per set.
 
Noting the Mocs: Florida Southern began the 2023 season strong with a 3-0 victory over No. 17 Washburn. The Mocs followed up with a five-set victory over Flagler in the FSC Volleyball Classic.
 
Offensively, Florida Southern looks to Mackenzie Petermann's 27 kills at 3.38 kills per set, as she is the lone Moc with 20+ kills on the year. However, FSC deploys a balanced attack with four players between 10-19 kills thus far.
 
Kristen Kraus and Cassidy Markel are the team's setters with 39 and 28 assists, respectively. Kraus is one of three Mocs who flash 25 or more digs on the defensive side, as Megan Carron is the team's anchor with 41 digs at 5.13 digs per set.
 
Jana Gilic and Madison Fowler pose a defensive threat at the net with 12 and 11 blocks, respectively.
 
As a unit, Florida Southern posts 11.4 kills per set, 10.9 assists per set, 0.8 aces per set, 16.0 digs per set and 3.8 blocks per set.