Box Score NOTRE DAME, Ind. – Albion College had the mental toughness to rally after losing the third set to take down Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association rival Saint Mary's College in five sets (23-25, 25-15, 23-25, 25-22, 15-8) Friday night.
A Taylor Rosenthal kill pushed the Albion lead in the third set to 19-13. The Britons led 20-15 when Kaitlyn Gilchrist terminated the point. Nicole Lukens terminated the final five points as Saint Mary's rallied to take the set and a 2-1 lead in the match.
Looking to close out the match, Saint Mary's went on an 8-2 run to build a 10-6 lead in the fourth set.
Albion responded by winning seven of the next eight points to gain a 13-11 lead. Kelsey Gustafson knocked down a pair of kills, Gilchrist served an ace and Saint Mary's helped the cause with three attack errors.
Albion finally extended the margin to three, 19-16, when Taylor Rosenthal and Kate Winter combined on a block. An ace by Rachel Zawodny pushed the Albion advantage to 21-17.
Lukens terminated the first point of the fifth set, but that was the Belles only lead. Gustafson knocked down kills on the next two points and Lukens' attack error sent the Britons to a 3-1 lead and they never looked back.
"We had to make a lot of in-game adjustments and we did a great job of executing," Albion Coach Kristin de St. Aubin said. "We talked about mental toughness and taking advantage of our side out opportunities. Our side out percentage was outstanding in the fourth and fifth sets."
Briton Leaders
- Gustafson and Rosenthal achieved career highs with 24 and 21 kills, respectively.
- Rosenthal hit .528 for the match (21-2-36) and added four block assists.
- Marie Pregenzer hit .373 with 17 kills. She also had three block assists.
- Setter Grace VanDorn completed her 18th double-double of the season with 67 assists and 17 digs. Her 67 assists are second-most for Albion in the rally scoring era.
Single-Season List
- VanDorn has 951 assists, placing her fifth on Albion's single season list. She is 13 shy of Ami Milligan's total in 2015 and 25 shy of Millgan's total in 2016.
- Libero Monica Shuk picked up 19 digs, giving her 431 for the season. Already the holder of the single-season school mark with 613 last season, Shuk's total this season is fifth-most in a season.
More Notes
- Albion has won its last four matches against MIAA rivals. Three of those matches have extended to five sets, and the other went four.
- Albion is 6-1 in matches that have gone five sets this season, including 5-0 against MIAA rivals.
- Albion (14-10 overall, 8-4 MIAA) stands alone in third place in the MIAA standings. The Britons own the head-to-head tiebreakers with Saint Mary's and Trine University for deciding places in the MIAA Tournament.
Next Up
Albion will complete the Albion Athletics schedule on Homecoming with a 5 o'clock home match against Alma College.
