Alverno College

MILWAUKEE – The Alverno volleyball team was back on the road on Wednesday evening, as the Inferno paid a visit to Mount Mary at the Bloechl Center. The Inferno dropped the first two sets, but came back to win the third, however, it was ultimately the Blue Angels to pick up the four-set win.
 
Alverno was led by sophomore Jenna Flayter, who had a team-high 14 kills as she also led the team with a .333 hitting percentage. She also picked up both of Alverno's blocks on the night, and added three assists and six digs to go along with her team-leading two service aces.
 
Freshman Rolin West notched 11 kills on the evening, and added a pair of assists as she was also tied with Flayter for the team lead in aces with two. West also registered 26 digs on the evening, which is tied for 10th on the single-match digs list, as she ties six other players to reach that mark.
 
Sophomore Selena Upshur had a season-best 10 kills on the night, and had her second-highest hitting percentage night on the year with a .172. Upshur also added a season-best 19 digs on the year, and chipped in with one service ace and one assist.
 
Senior Alex McMath connected on six kills on the night as she took a season-high 25 swings, while also adding another 30 assists on the night. This is the third time on the season that McMath has put together a 30-or-more assist effort.
 
Sophomore Kiara Ellison had four digs on the night, while classmate Zahria Green had a pair of digs in the four-set effort.
 
Alverno dropped the opening two sets by identical 25-16 scores; the Inferno and Blue Angels went back-and-forth in the opening set before the Blue Angels rattled off five unanswered points to pull away. Another five-point run late in the set gave Mount Mary a 23-13 lead before Alverno connected on kills by West and McMath to get back within seven. However, the Blue Angels closed out the set.
 
In the second period, the two sides were once again close as Alverno trailed 10-9 after back-to-back kills by Flayter and West. A 7-1 run by Mount Mary gave the Blue Angels a 19-11 lead, before Mount Mary closed out the set.
 
The third set opened with Mount Mary scoring the first two points, before Alverno took a 7-6 lead on a pair of consecutive kills by Flayter followed by an ace by West. The Inferno added to its 9-1 lead on kills by Upshur, West, and Flayter as the Inferno opened a 14-7 advantage. Mount Mary chipped away and stayed in the set, before scoring five unanswered to even the score at 24. An attacking error by the Blue Angels and a kill by McMath gave the Inferno a 26-24 third set win.
 
After Mount Mary took a 12-5 lead in the fourth stanza, the Inferno clawed back in on four-straight errors by the Blue Angels and an ace by West to get Alverno back within two at 12-10. With the Inferno trailing by a 19-16 score, the Blue Angels scored the next four points as the home team closed out the set on a 6-2 run to win the set and the match.
 
Alverno (1-7, 0-5 NACC) will be back in action on Friday evening, as the Inferno will now head to the east side of Milwaukee to take on the MSOE Raiders for a 7 p.m. start inside the Kern Center on the MSOE campus.