KALAMAZOO, Mich. – Albion College served up five aces in the first set to surge to an early lead in its non-league volleyball match against Hiram College Friday night, but the Britons were unable to keep its opponent out of system for long as they took a loss in four sets.
Hiram won the match 18-25, 25-21, 25-21, 25-20.
Albion finished the night with 13 aces. Marie Pregenzer and Rachel Zawodny had four apiece, Richelle Hawkins added three and Grace VanDorn collected aces on consecutive points in the first set.
Albion rallied from an 8-3 deficit in the second set, forging a tie at 21 on Kelsey Gustafson's block. The Britons were unable to seize control of the match, as a service error opened the door for Hiram to rip off a four-point scoring run that evened the match at a set apiece.
Albion held a five point lead at 18-13 in the third set. Hiram erased the deficit and finished the set by winning eight of the final nine points.
Hiram jumped out to a 15-6 lead and never looked back in the fourth set.
Emily Buckelew knocked down a season-high 11 kills and Taylor Rosenthal also had 11 kills and two blocks for Albion. Pregenzer finished with nine kills and two block assists.
Libero Monica Shuk collected 14 digs to become Albion's all-time leader with 1,345.
Albion returns to Kalamazoo tomorrow for matches against Beloit (Wis.) College and Anderson (Ind.) University.
Get more information about the team by following @AlbionVball on Twitter. General athletics news can be found @gobrits on Twitter and Albion College Athletics on Facebook
