On Wednesday evening, the Alma College Volleyball team hosted the number one ranked team in the country in MIAA foe Hope College at Art Smith Arena. Ultimately, the visitors walked off the court with a 3-1 (20-25, 25-13, 25-20, 25-21) match victory, but it was perhaps the stiffest test of the season for the #1 ranked Flying Dutch.

With tonight's hard-fought loss, the Scots now have a league record of 6-5 and are 11-14 overall, while Hope improved to 20-0 in 2014 and a perfect 10-0 in the MIAA.

"I was proud of the way our girls competed tonight against a very good team," said Alma Head Coach Sarah Dehring. "There were a couple of instances during the match that if they had gone our way, it might have made it even more interesting. But, to win the first set and have the fourth one in control early, shows that we can compete with the best.

"If we see them again in the tournament, there is no reason our girls should be in awe. We showed that if we play with confidence and don't get discouraged, we can be a pretty good team as well."

The Flying Dutch came into tonight's match having only lost two of 59 sets in 2014. But it was Alma that struck first out of the gate, taking set one by a score of 25-20. After Hope scored the first three points, the Scots notched 12 of the next 16 to take a 12-7 advantage. The Scots led the rest of the way but Hope did cut it to 21-20 before the home team impressively reeled off the next four points for the win.

In the second set, Hope scored the first six points en route to an impressive answer of their own - a 25-13 win to even the match at 1-1. The third set was competitive throughout and the Scots held a 14-13 lead at one point. However, with the game deadlocked at 15-15, Hope outscored Alma by a margin of 10-5 to earn the 25-20 victory.

The fourth set was one of the most entertaining moments of the season at "The Art". The Scots, showing fantastic resiliency, jumped out to a 5-1 lead and eventually increased it to 14-5. Then, with Alma leading 16-8, Hope scored the next seven to cut it to 16-15. The set got wild at that point as the two teams were tied at 17-17, 18-18, 19-19 and 20-20.

A service error by the Flying Dutch gave Alma a 21-20 advantage and the pro Scots crowd at "The Art" was raucous. But Hope is ranked #1 for a reason and their star players took control at that point of the set. The Flying Dutch scored the next five points to win 25-20, and the sudden gust of air in the arena was the collective sigh of relief coming from Holland. It was a battle, but in the end, the visitors earned the win.

Statistically, Alma was led by Jr. OH/DS Hannah Guilford's (Hartland/Hartland) 10 kills, followed by So. RS/OH Kendall Sells (Muskegon/Mona Shores) and So. MH/OH Madison Smith (Westphalia/Pewamo-Westphalia), who had eight and seven kills respectively.

So. S Mary Dulzo (Novi/Mercy) paced the Scots with 20 assists, while So. OH/DS Maressa Miller (Grand Blanc/Grand Blanc) added 12. Guilford had a team-high 18 digs and So. DS/L Molly Lark (Middleville/Thornapple-Kellogg) contributed 13. Miller had four service aces and So. OH/DS Sasha Laykova (Ternopil, Ukraine/Forest Hills Northern) notched two.

The Scots next play on Saturday as they take part in a tri-match at Manchester College. Alma plays Mt. St. Joseph's at 3:00 p.m., followed by a 5:00 p.m. match with the hosts.