SOUTH EUCLID, Ohio – The Urbana University women's volleyball team fell at Notre Dame College Tuesday night in straight sets, 25-19, 25-22, 25-14.
Urbana (16-11, 11-3 MEC) suffered is second-lowest hitting percentage of the season (0.23) as the host Falcons avenged a five-set loss to the Blue Knights earlier this season. UU was dealt back-to-back league losses for the first time this year. Notre Dame (22-10, 8-6 MEC) set a new single-season program record for wins.
Hannah Delor,
Lexi Reinert and
Natalie Perez each had five kills.
Courtney Niesen, this week's MEC Defensive Player of the Week, led with 16 digs while Delor and
Jenna Franks produced 11. Setter
Anna Davis had 21 assists and seven digs.
Despite its struggles, Urbana kept it close over the first two sets. The Blue Knights never led in the opening frame, but a kill by
Hannah Delor drew Urbana within a point at 19-18. However, the Falcons closed on a 6-1 run to take the early lead.
Urbana grabbed its first lead in the second set, moving out in front by a score of 5-4 following a
Lexi Reinert kill and NDC error.
But the Falcons, who fed off the energy from the home crowd all night, responded with a 6-0 run to gain control and forced an Urbana timeout. Later on, after trailing by as much as seven, the Blue Knights fought back to knot the score 20-20 on an
Anna Davis kill. That was as close as Urbana would get as the Falcons finished strong again and claimed the two-set advantage.
Unlike the first matchup against Notre Dame this year, the Blue Knights never recovered and ran out of steam.
Kaye Dregalla led Notre Dame with 16 kills while Mary Kate McHugh had 14. The Falcons logged a .215 overall team hitting percentage with 76 digs.
UP NEXT: Urbana closes out the regular season this weekend with road matches at Fairmont State (Fri) and Frostburg State (Sat). The Blue Knights swept both teams earlier this season.
Following tonight's match, UU moved into a second-place tie in the MEC standings with West Virginia State. The Blue Knights and Yellow Jackets are in the hunt for second place along with Davis & Elkins.
