MILWAUKEE -- Although the Alverno College women's volleyball team exhibited some of its best play of the season against Concordia University Chicago, forcing the Cougars to stay on their toes in some close moments in the second and third sets, the Inferno dropped the Northern Athletics Conference match, 3-0, on Wednesday night at Alverno.

The Inferno (0-13, 0-3 NAC) came out somewhat flat in the first set for a 25-10 loss before battling more intensely in the second set for a closer 25-16 score, leading 8-7 early on. In the third set, the home squad took its play up another notch, jumping out to a 6-0 lead, thanks in part to the service talents of freshman right side hitter JoAnna Sobolik (Oak Creek, Wis./Parkway Christian) who had four aces in the match.

The Cougars crept back to knot the score at 10 points apiece and never trailed again, as Concordia's sophomore serving phenom, Sarah Potter (New Haven, Ind./Woodlan), ripped off six consecutive set points, four of which were aces, to put her squad in front for the remainder of the set for a 25-19 result. Potter finished with six service aces in the match.

"We could have definitely taken the third set, no doubt about it," said Alverno head coach Crystal McClure. "We just got intimidated in our serve receive with the jump serves and the top spin on the ball."

Although her team failed to take a set victory from the Cougars, McClure was pleased with the much-improved attitude and work ethic her squad has showed in the past few days.

"We really prepped for this team for the past two days and it showed," McClure said. "I'm really proud of our team for that because I saw a lot of improvement from how we played this past weekend. We were more aggressive, we were talking and we wanted it more. We still have to get out of those first-set jitters because that has consistently been a problem for us throughout the season so far."

Freshman middle blocker Rachel Diedrich (Two Rivers, Wis.) led the Inferno at the net, knocking down 10 kills in the contest. Junior setter Kim Reuter (Franklin, Wis.) led the back row with 11 digs in the match to go along with 16 assists.

"Rachel stepped it up big-time tonight," McClure said. "She was able to swing and put the ball down and finish some sloppy plays numerous times. Kim was also aggressive like she always is, Roxanne (Kresmer) became more aggressive in the back row, and Kia (Yang) was getting behind the ball and giving some great passes. Everyone was on their toes and playing as a team tonight."

Alverno will continue match play with three non-conference matches at the Moody Bible Institute Tournament this Friday and Saturday, Sept. 25-26, in Chicago, Ill.

"We're really excited for this tournament," McClure said. "It should be some pretty good competition for us and it gives us three more matches to prepare to play the majority of our conference schedule from here on out."

Friday's pair of matches will pit the Inferno against Indiana University Northwest at 5 p.m. followed immediately by a face-off with host Moody at 7 p.m. Saturday's match opponent will be determined pending the results of Friday's matches.