Albion College

Holland, Mich. - The Albion Women's Volleyball team improved to 7-0 after a clean sweep at the MIAA/NCAC Crossover tournament. The Britons beat Denison 3-1 (25-12, 14-25, 25-19, 25-16), Ohio Wesleyan 3-0 (25-17, 28-26, 26-24), and (RV) Wittenberg 3-0 (25-15, 25-16, 25-16).

Friday Night Game 1: Denison 3-1 
Bri Whitfield started the night with the opening point for the Britons. The Britons and Big Red would go back and forth until two kills by Hanna Pardon and an ace by Margaret Jones would give the Brits an 8-5 lead. An error would give the Big Red the ball, but not for long. The Brits would go on a 5-0 run to take the lead 13-6. Giving up, yet again, just one point, the Brits would respond by going on a 6-0 with kills by Emma Paglirella and Carson Howard. Both teams would trade off points before the Brits would win the opening set 25-12. 
Set 2 began much more evenly matched. Both teams were back and forth before the Big Red would 5-0 run to take the lead 13-6. The Brits would work to close the gap with back to back blocks by Jillian Gibbs to bring the score to 18-13, however Denison was on a roll and would go on a 6-0 run to take an 11 point lead before finishing the set off 25-14. 
The Brits would open set 3 with a 4-0 run with kills by Carly Frank, Whitfield, and Jones. The Brits would grow their lead with an ace by Whitfield and another kill by Jones to go up 8-1. The Brits would go 11-7 to take a 10 point, 19-9 lead over the Big Red. Denison would look to close the gap, however Molly Edmunds put the ball away to give the Brits a 25-19 win, and go up 2-1. 
Set four would be back and forth with the teams trading points and small runs before tying at 11. Four kills by the Brits would give them a 16-11 lead over the Big Bed. Denison would look to come back, however Paglirella would put the ball away to secure the Britons 5th straight victory. 
Margaret Jones led the Britons with 11 kills and Paige Williams led the defense with 20 digs. 

Saturday Game 2: Ohio Wesleyan 3-0
Edmunds and Jones would start the day off with a block. The Brits and Battling Bishops would trade points before the Brits would go on an 10-2 run to take a 14-5 lead. The Battling Bishops would look to close the gap, slowly getting closer to the Brits, however an error by OWU and a kill by Frank would give the Brits a 1-0 lead. 
The Battling Bishops came out strong, going up 6-3 on the Brits early. Kills by Frank and Pardon would tie the game 7-7. The Brits would then go on an 11-5 run to take the lead 18-12. The Battling Bishops would battle back and tie the game at 18 however, the Brits would continue to battle and hold the lead. OWU would force the set to go into extra points and would even take the lead 26-25 before Frank would capitalize on an error by the Battling Bishops and put away two straight kills to give the Brits a 2-0 lead. 
Set 3 was a back and forth battle. The Brits would hold a 17-14 lead before the Bishops would go on a run to take the lead 20-17. The Brits would continue to battle and a kill by Jones would give the Brits the late lead, 22-21. OWU would continue trying to win, however Edmunds and Jones would find gaps in the defense and put the ball away to bring the Britons to a perfect 6-0 entering the final game of the weekend. 
Carly Frank led the team with 14 kills, while Paglirella had three blocks and Williamson had 12 digs. 

Saturday Game 3: vs. Wittenberg 3-0 
The Tigers opened the game on a 5-2 run. The Brits would battle back and the teams would trade points, until the Brits would go on a 6-0 run to go up 18-11. The Brits would finish the set strong with six straight points and Edmunds would put the final ball away to win the set 25-15. 
The Brits would come out on an 11-5 run. The Tigers would battle, trading off points until they were behind 13-16. The Brits would then score five straight points to go up 21-13. The Britons would finish the set out and win 25-16 and go up on the Tigers 2-0. 
The final set was a back and forth battle, with eight ties, ending 14-14. The Brits would then end the set on an 11-2 run, with Whitfield having the final two kills, to win the set and improve to a perfect 7-0. 
Frank led the team with nine kills and Whitfield added eight. Paglirella recorded four blocks, while Jones added in an additional three. Williamson added an additional 13 digs for the defense. 

The Britons return to action at the Grove City/Westminster Invitational on Friday September 18th in PA. 

News and Notes: 

• The Britons recorded a season high nine blocks in the match vs. Wittenberg
• The Britons held the Tigers to a 0.045 hitting percentage, the second lowest of the year 
• Carly Frank crossed 1000 career kills
• Emma Paglirella recorded a season high four digs vs Wittenberg
  • She also tied her season high of four blocks vs Wittenberg
• Maraget Jones recorded a season high 11 kills vs Denison
  • She also recorded a season high five digs vs Wittenberg 
• Molly Edmunds recorded a season high two blocks vs Wittenberg 
• Ava Wilcox recorded a season high two kills vs Witteberg
• Joelle Boeskool tied her season high of seven digs vs Denison and Wittenberg
• Paige Williamson has recorded seven straight games with 10+ digs
  • 3 of these being 20+ (last one vs Denison) 
• Jillian Gibbs recorded her first block of the season vs Denison 
• Camille Oxley recorded her first assist of the season vs Wittenberg