The Alma College Volleyball team hosted Trine University on Wednesday evening at Art Smith Arena in a battle of two very evenly matched MIAA squads. After Alma won the first set, Trine won three in a row to win the match (23-25, 25-21, 25-23, 25-18).

With the loss, the Scots are now 8-6 in the MIAA and 15-15 overall, while Trine improved to 10-4 in the league and 21-4 in 2014.

"Tonight was another night where we let the other team dictate the tempo and played to their game instead of enforcing ours," said Alma Head Coach Sarah Dehring. "We must learn to put the pressure on a team early in a match. We will also be focusing on limiting our self-inflicted errors and mistakes - it has been something that has been an issue all season long and we will use this last week to work on it."

There were 13 tied scores in the first set, the last being at 23-23. However, at that point the Scots hammered out the final two points to win 25-23. The second set was tight as well throughout before Trine pushed out to a 13-10 lead. The Scots responded with three in a row and the two teams ultimately found themselves tied at 17-17.

The Thunder then scored the next two and were able to maintain a slim lead before closing it out with a 25-21 win. The third set had the squads tied at 6-6 before Alma forged out to a 10-6 advantage and the Scots still led at 16-13. The Thunder scrapped their way back and the teams were tied at 19-19, 20-20, 21-21, 22-22 and 23-23. Trine then scored the last two points, the final one on a service ace, to secure the 25-23 victory.

Alma scored the first point of the fourth set before Trine was able to put together a small advantage. Although the Scots fought hard throughout, the Thunder was able to keep them at bay and took control after the home team had closed to 12-10. Trine scored five of the next six to lead 17-11 and cruised to the 25-18 win from that point, closing out the 3-1 match triumph.

Jr. OH/DS Hannah Guilford (Hartland/Hartland) had a team-high seven kills for Alma, while Sr. OH Kayla Muxlow (Brown City/Brown City) was next with six. So. S Mary Dulzo (Novi/Mercy) had a squad-best 25 assists with So. OH/DS Maressa Miller (Grand Blanc/Grand Blanc) added eight. Three players had 14 digs on the evening - Miller, Guilford and So. DS/L Molly Lark (Middleville/Thornapple-Kellogg) - while So. OH/DS Sasha Laykova (Ternopil, Ukraine/Forest Hills Northern) had 13.

The Scots have the weekend off before closing out the regular season with two final matches - Tuesday, October 28 at Calvin College at 6:30 p.m. and Friday, October 31 at home versus Kalamazoo College at 7:00 p.m.