ALBION, Mich. -- "We had to be us."

That was the message Albion head volleyball coach Kristin Slamer-de St. Aubin preached to her team as they were down, 2-1, as they began the fourth set against 6-12 Olivet.

The Britons took a commanding presence from there on out, outscoring the Comets 40-14 in the final two sets to take the match, 3-2 (25-16, 20-25, 23-25, 25-8, 15-6).

It was Albion's ninth straight victory over Olivet, dating back to 2017.

"I just reminded the team what our foundation is and how we have to earn it," Slamer-de St. Aubin said. "If we can be offensive, we're really hard to stop but if we give it away we go five sets."

The Britons were never down in the first set and took a 9-6 lead to begin the stanza. From there, they scored four of the next five points before the Comets called their first timeout.

Olivet fought back, clawing to make it a four-point game at 17-13, but following an Albion timeout the Britons notched eight of the final 11 points for the 25-16 set victory.

The second set swung in favor of the Comets. Albion led, 7-6, but the momentum started to shift after three straight points by the visitors to take a 9-7 lead. 

The Britons could never regain their advantage in the set, as Olivet maintained the lead the rest of the way.

At one point, Albion made it a one-point match, 19-18, but the Comets closed the door with six of the final eight points to tie it up at one a piece.

Another slow start ensued, as Olivet jumped out to a 10-6 advantage, but three consecutive points by the Britons caused the Comets to use their first timeout.

Back-to-back kills from Carly Frank out of the stoppage helped Albion take their first lead, 11-10, in the set.

After five ties, the Britons maintained an 18-11 lead but Olivet took their first advantage since their timeout with consecutive kills, 19-18, that forced the Britons into using their own timeout.

Albion worked their way to a 22-20 lead, but two attack errors and three kills led to the set victory for Olivet.

The Britons came out firing on all cylinders in the fourth set after Slamer-de St. Aubin's talk, taking a 5-0 lead and forcing an early Olivet timeout.

Five more points came in a row that pushed the advantage to 10-0 and making the Comets take another timeout.

The confidence grew with each attack, as Albion grew their lead to 15-5 and then scored 10 of the next 13 to take the set in dominating fashion.

Albion left no doubt that the match was theirs in the final set, wearing out the Comets by never surrendering their lead.

Two aces and an attack error led to the Britons' 3-0 advantage early, and it grew to 11-4 on a Margaret Jones kill before an Olivet timeout.

The match comeback was cemented with a Kayda Herrick kill to put the icing on the cake.

Frank posted 24 kills, while Herrick added a career-high 19 of her own. Margaret Jones and Bri Whitfield each chipped in 10 kills, while Frank, Herrick and Jones each hit over 29%.

Molly Edmunds had 53 assists and recorded a career-high 22 digs defensively.

"Hats off to Olivet for exposing some of our defensive weaknesses going hard after the tip game," Slamer-de St. Aubin said. "We were high error, and we can't do that against teams who can score.

"That's been a growth area for our young group all year, and we have to earn when it counts."

Up Next
The Britons will head east to Cleveland to take on Otterbein and the host Yellow Jackets in a tri-match on Saturday, October 11. The match against the Cardinals will begin at 1 p.m., while the BW match is set to start at 3 p.m.