Alma, Mich. - After a big win at home yesterday over Kalamazoo the Alma College volleyball team hosted #14 Hope College in the Art Smith Arena. Alma found themselves in three close sets with the Dutch but ultimately fell 3-0 (25-17, 25-20, 25-20). After the loss Alma fell to 9-11 overall and are now 5-5 in the Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association (MIAA) while Hope improved to 14-4 on the year and 9-1 in conference play.

In the first set Hope used Alma's eight errors and .051 hitting percentage to their advantage taking their highest scoring margin 25-17 from the Scots. Senior Hamah Guilford (Hartland, Mich./Hartland) paced Alma in the set with four kills.

Hope jumped out to an early 7-0 lead forcing Alma in to a timeout. Alma capitalized off of the timeout going on 8-1 run to tie the game up 8-8. The Scots tied the game up one more time 15-15 after a Hope error but a kill from Hope's Courtney Van Houzen sealed the game and the Dutch took set two 25-20.

The Scots found themselves down 7-1 but five Hope errors put Alma in striking range trailing 11-9. A kill from freshman Katie Bush (Lowell, Mich./Lowell) tied the game 16-16 and a Hope error gave the Scots a 17-16 lead. Hope would regain the lead at 18-17 and never looked back taking the final match from Alma 25-20.

Guilford led the way for Alma with 13 kills and six digs while sophomore Dakota Pelach (Gaylord, Mich./Gaylord) notched her ninth double double of the season recording 15 assists and 11 digs. Defensive specialist Maressa Miller (Grand Blanc, Mich./Grand Blanc) paced Alma with 15 digs on the afternoon. 

Alma will continue conference play on the road traveling to Olivet, Mich. on Wednesday (Oct. 14) to take on Olivet College in the Cutler Event Center with a game time set for 6:30 p.m.