ALBION, Mich. – Albion volleyball coach Kristin de St. Aubin revealed she will be reading Good To Great in the offseason.

Her team was pretty great Tuesday night, taking down ninth-ranked Hope College 25-23, 25-23, 25-23 in front of a raucous crowd at Kresge Gymnasium.

It was a signature win for Albion – its first over Hope since a five-set decision on Sept. 28, 2004. Hope also suffered its first loss to a Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association rival other than Calvin College since 2007.

Albion featured a balanced offense – Stephanie Thurner produced 10 kills, Taylor Rosenthal had nine and Lauren Outwater knocked down eight – and it was nearly perfect in serve-receive to pull the upset.

"I've been talking to the team all week about making the transition from a good to great team and a night like tonight was an opportunity to do that," de St. Aubin said. "We were the most consistent I've seen us be all year from passing to our setting decisions and attacking choices."

Ami Milligan and Angela Adams served up aces as Albion jumped out to a 15-10 lead in the first set. Hope rallied to forge a tie at 22, but Albion reached set point on Hope attack errors on consecutive points. Albion took the early lead in the match on a kill by Marie Pregenzer.

Albion built a 5-1 lead in the second set as Hope committed three errors and Thurner and Outwater produced kills for the Britons. The margin ballooned to 10-2 as Ami Milligan, Outwater and Rosenthal terminated points with Rachel Zawodny serving.

Hope trimmed the Albion lead to 22-21, but the Britons never surrendered the lead as Pregenzer's kill boosted the margin back to two. Outwater terminated Albion's final two points of the set.

Milligan served up an ace as part of a six-point run as Albion seized a 12-11 lead in the third set.

Kelsey Gustafson and Zawodny tacked on kills as part of a three-point spurt as Albion extended the lead to 21-18. Thurner terminated two of Albion's final three points to finish the upset.

"We knew we could do it all along – it was a matter of putting the pieces together," Milligan said. "It was a team effort. We had so much communication on the court."

Milligan finished the night with 34 assists and 16 digs for her ninth double-double of the season. Monica Shuk led the defense with 17 digs.

Albion, 14-10 overall and 4-8 against MIAA rivals, can clinch a winning record in consecutive seasons for the first time in program history Friday night when it travels to Olivet for a league match against the Comets and a non-league contest against Grace Bible.