Alverno College

MILWAUKEE – On a night the Alverno volleyball team celebrated senior night, it was ultimately the Lakeland Muskies to take a 3-1 victory over the Inferno in the final Alverno home match of the season inside Reiman Gymnasium.
 
Prior to the match, the Inferno celebrated senior Alex McMath, who had joined the program in the fall of 2018 and over that time has appeared in 95 career matches and 315 sets. During her career she has totaled 367 kills, including a career-best 151 as a senior; while also tallying 136 service aces with 50 of those coming in 2022.
 
Defensively she has totaled 44 blocks, to go along with 714 career digs, with a career-best 231 digs coming this year. Coming to Alverno as a setter, McMath has registered 1,427 career assists, and will finish her career in the top-two all-time in assists, as well as service aces.
 
On senior night, McMath had four kills on 18 swings, while registering a team-best 17 assists and was also second on the team with 14 digs on the night. She also added one block on the night as well.
 
Alverno was once again led in the kill category by Rolin West, who put down 15 kills on the night to bring her season total to 293 as she inches her way to becoming just the second student-athlete in program history to collect 300 kills in a season. With her total tonight, she became just the ninth player in program history to reach 500 career kills, and is one shy of tying the eighth position on the all-time list. West also had three aces and one assist, and added a dozen kills for her 13th double-double of the season.
 
Freshman Breann Flannery had a big night once again on the defensive side, with 22 digs on the match and also added one assist. Classmate Natalie Onozie was second to West with 10 kills, and second to McMath with seven assists. Onozie was also tied with freshman Lynnica Harley and junior Selena Upshur with three blocks on the night. Upshur also had seven kills and two digs on her ledger.
 
Sophomore Izzy Gianniou had six assists and two kills with five digs, while freshman Sharisty Kooch had four assists and six digs. Freshman Jalea Taylor collected one block, and was also credited with one dig on the match.
 
Alverno led early in the opening set with an 8-4 advantage, the Muskies responded with five unanswered before the Inferno regained the lead. The lead pinballed back-and-forth before five unanswered by Lakeland put the Muskies ahead 17-13, before winning the set 25-21.
 
In the second set after a series of ties and lead exchanges, the Inferno trailed by a 20-18 score late in the second period. Onozie got the offense started with a kill, followed by a pair of errors by Lakeland, and then three consecutive kills by West. After a quick point by Lakeland made it 24-21 in favor of the Inferno, it was a block by Onozie and Upshur to secure the set win for Alverno to even the match score at one apiece.
 
Lakeland led early in the third set and did not turn back, knocking off the Alverno by a 25-15 set score.
 
The early going of the fourth set saw the Inferno and Muskies tied at eight, before Lakeland regained the lead at 10-8. Brief spurts by the Muskies eventually gave Lakeland a 22-16 lead before the Muskies closed out the match by a 25-18 score.
 
Alverno (5-17, 0-10 NACC) will be on the road for the remainder of the season, beginning with a pair in River Forest, Illinois, as the Inferno will take on Concordia Chicago on Friday before Dominican on Saturday with both matches beginning at 7 p.m.