Albion College

Albion, Mich. - The Women's Volleyball team went 2-1 in the Albion-Olivet Tournament. They beat Anderson 3-1 (19-25, 25-19, 25-15, 25-23) and Hanover 3-0 (25-21, 25-18, 25-20) before falling to Baldwin Wallace 1-3 (25-19, 23-25, 19-25, 13-25).

Bri Whitfield led the team with 36 kills over the three matches, with Carly Frank adding 33 and Emma Pagliarella adding 24. Pagliarella also adding in 10 blocks. Paige Williamson led the team with seven aces and 60 digs, with Ava Wilcox adding 39 digs. Molly Edmunds posted a double-double in each game finishing the weekend with 76 assists and 31 digs. 

Game 1 vs Anderson W 3-1: 
Frank led the team on Senior Night with 12 kills. Margaret Jones added in three blocks and Paige Williamson had a weekend high 31 digs.

The Brits and the Ravens would start the set off in a back and forth battle. The Ravens would tie the game at 6 and go on a 6-1 run to take a 12-7 lead. Kills by Whitfield and Jones would get the Brits within three, however the Ravens would go on a 6-0 run to take a 19-10 lead. The Brits would battle to go on a 9-3 run to get them within three, however the Ravens would score three straight to take set one. 

Set two would start back and forth, with there being six ties before the game was knotted at 10's. The Brits would go on a 4-0 run to build the biggest lead of the game for either side. The Ravens would chip away and bring the game back within one, 17-16. The Brits would respond with a 5-1 run to go up 22-17. They would finish the set off with a kill by Carson Howard and two errors by the Ravens to even the game at 1-1. 

Set three would continue the back and forth of the previous two. The Brits would go on a 4-0 run to go up 17-14. The Brits would give up just one more point before they would record seven kills and an ace to finish out the set 25-15 and head into set four up 2-1. 

The fourth set would be more of the same. The set would start back and fourth with the teams knotting at five. The Brits would then go on a 4-0 run to take a 9-5 lead. The teams would trade points before the Brits would go on a 6-0 run with four kills and two blocks, to take the lead 16-8. The Ravens would respond with a 6-0 run to bring the game back within two at 17-15. The Ravens would continue to string points together and take the lead 23-22. A kill from Whitfield would tie the game at 23 and a block by Jones would call the game 25-23. 

Game 2 vs Hanover W 3-0: 
Frank led the team with 11 kills. Pagliarella added in five blocks and Williamson had four aces and 19 digs. 

The Panthers would start the game on a 7-3 run. The Brits would slowly chip away before going on a 5-0 run to take the lead 13-11. The Panthers would battle to get back within one, however the Brits would finish strong and win set one 25-19. 

Set two would be a back and forth with the teams tying at 12. The Brits would go on an 8-4 run to go up 20-16. The Brits would finish the set off with five straight points and Whitfield would have the final kill of the set to give the Brits a 2-0 lead. 

The Brits would open the third set with a 9-0 run. They would continue their dominant offense going up 13-4. The Panthers would slowly chip away at the lead before Whitfield would put the ball down once again and call game 25-20. 

Game 3 vs Baldwin Wallace L 1-3: 
Whitfield led the Britons with 16 kills and added five digs. Frank finished with 10 kills, while Pagliarella recorded eight kills. Williamson led Albion with 20 digs, and Edmunds added 10 digs. Joelle Boeskool finished with 14 assists, while Edmunds recorded 27 assists.

Albion controlled the opening set from the start, using its offense to build an early advantage. A fire alarm would pause play for approximately 20 minutes and the Brits would come back out and finish the set strong. The Britons hit .367 as a team in the first set and held Baldwin Wallace to a .276 hitting percentage. Albion maintained its lead late to take the opening frame, 25-19.

Baldwin Wallace responded in the second set, edging Albion, 25-23. The Yellow Jackets produced 15 kills in the set, while Albion recorded 18 kills. The set featured three lead changes as both teams battled throughout the frame before Baldwin Wallace closed out the set to even the match.

The Yellow Jackets took control in the third set, winning 25-19. Albion struggled to find the same offensive rhythm it had early in the match, hitting .022 in the set. Baldwin Wallace had a more consistent attack and took a 2-1 lead in the match.

Baldwin Wallace carried its momentum into the fourth set, taking a 25-13 victory to close out the match. Albion was held to a -.029 hitting percentage in the final frame, while the Yellow Jackets hit .379.

The Brits return to the court on Friday October 2nd as they host Alma for the start of conference play at 6:30 PM.