Beloit, Wisc. - The Alma College Volleyball team won its opening two matches on Friday (August 31) against Eureka College and Rockford University in Day 1 of the Buc Blast Tournament. The Scots only dropped one set on the day, which it lost by just three points.

Freshman opposite Haley Ullrich (Elk River, Minn. / Elk River) and senior middle blocker Katie Bush (Lowell, Mich. / Lowell) each led Alma with 19 kills on the day. Ullrich hit .313 over both matches, including .533 with no errors against Rockford. Bush hit .359 and added nine blocks in the seven sets Alma played.

Junior outside Georgia Miller (Georgetown, Ky. / Scott County) tallied nine kills and 16 digs against Eureka. She was one of three players with that many digs in the game, the others being senior libero Brooke Mason (Marshall, Mich. / Marshall) and sophomore opposite Haley Novak (Midland, Mich. / Bullock Creek). Sophomore middle blocker Naomi Mason (Kaleva, Mich. / Brethren) put up eight kills in the first game; junior outside Ashtyn Snyder (Shepherd, Mich. / Shepherd) had nine kills on 18 attacks against Rockford, hitting .444.

Alma's won its last two sets of the day 25-12. It hit .323 in the last set with only four errors. Its closest set over the two matches was the fourth set against Eureka, which it won 29-27. Only one Alma opponent hit over .300 (Rockford's McCathran Andrew), but she had just one kill on three attacks.

Notables

• Alma dug 70 balls on Eureka's 135 attacks. The Scots also out-killed Eureka 50-34.
• The Scots had 23 aces on the day. Sophomore libero Bailey Cantrell (Holt, Mich. / Mason) had led Alma with four in each game.
• Both Ashtyn Snyder and Naomi Mason set new career-highs in kills.
• Freshman libero Jill Fidler (Lowell, Mich. / Lowell) led Alma with 10 digs against Rockford.
• Rockford hit -.023 against Alma.

Up Next

Alma wraps up competition at the Buc Blast Tournament with matches against host team Beloit at noon on Saturday (Sept. 1) and against North Central at 4 p.m. You can watch both matches here.