Pittsburgh, Pa. – The Alma College volleyball team loss 3-1 (25-18, 15-25, 19-25, 22-25) to North Park University (IL) and 3-2 (21-25, 31-29, 16-25, 25-16, 10-15) to Arcadia University (Saturday (Oct. 20). The Scots drop to 18-5 on the season. 

Freshman Sara Majerle (Rockford, Mich. / Rockford) combined for 34 kills and 32 digs on the day while Sophomore Haley Novak (Midland, Mich. / Bullock Creek) added 79 assists between the two matches.  

What Happened

• The Scots looked fresh to start off the day cruising to an opening set win against North Park. A kill by senior Katie Bush (Lowell, Mich. / Lowell) put the set on ice. 
• Alma used a six-point run to take a 10-8 advantage early in the second set. But the Vikings just went a tear scoring 17 of the next 22 points. The set ended on a seven-point run by North Park.  
• The Vikings continued their momentum into third opening up a 10-6 lead. The scots looked to chip away and got as close as 17-15 at one point. But the Vikings were too much. 
• The fourth and final set was the closest of the match. The Scots fell down early but did not give in, an 11-4 run made it a 21-18 game. A kill from Majerle set up by Novak got the Scots within two at 24-22. But a kill by the Vikings ended the match. 
• Alma had to quickly recover from their match with North Park to prepare for Arcadia. A run of five straight points gave the Scots a 10-9 lead in the first set, but the Knights quickly took the lead back and never looked back.  
• The second set was highly contested with neither team leading by more than two. The Scots were able to fight off three set points and with the score, 30-29, freshman Haley Ullrich (Elk River, Minn. / Elk River) put it away. 
• In third set the Scots were unable to keep up with the Knights, but in fourth it was the opposite. Alma started off to a 4-0 run then had a six-point run to make it 13-5. From there, the Scots were able to fight Arcadia off the rest of the way. A kill by junior Naomi Mason (Kaleva, Mich. / Brethren) sent the match to a deciding set.  
• The Knights led the entire fifth set, the Scots were able to win three points in a row while facing match point but Arcadia put it to bed. 

Notables

• Plenty of Scots had large dig numbers Saturday, Senior Brianna Zimmer (Mt. Pleasant, Mich. / Mt. Pleasant) had 28. Senior Brooke Mason (Marshall, Mich. / Marshall) had 27. Junior Georgia Miller (Georgetown, Ky. / Scott County) had 26. Sophomore Bailey Cantrell (Holt, Mich. / Mason) had 24. 
• Bush, Miller and Mason all had solid offensive days with 17, 16 and 14 kills respectively.  
• As a team, the Scots had more blocks than the Vikings by a total of 8-6. 
• Against the Knights, both teams racked up 89 digs each. 

Up Next

Alma looks to get back on the winning track when they head to Northwood University Wednesday (Oct. 24) at 7 p.m.