Alverno College

MILWAUKEE – The Alverno Volleyball team played a pair of Northern Athletics Collegiate Conference contests this weekend, visiting the Illinois Tech Scarlet Hawks on Friday evening and hosting the MSOE Raiders on Saturday inside Reiman Gymnasium.
 
The Inferno dropped both matches in three sets, with the set scores against Illinois Tech at 25-9, 25-17, 25-21. Against the Raiders, the Inferno put together a 25-21 first set score, before dropping the second and third sets by identical 25-16 marks.
 
Leading the defensive effort for Alverno on the weekend was senior Alex McMath with 14 digs, while sophomore Rolin West had a dozen digs. Freshmen Breann Flannery and Sharisty Kooch each had nine digs over the team's six sets. In terms of blocks, junior Selena Upshur collected three, while four other Inferno each had one block apiece.
 
Offensively West along with freshman Natalie Onozie each had 13 kills apiece, with West adding one service ace. McMath and Flannery each had two aces, while McMath led the team with 24 assists. Onozie had 10 helpers, while sophomore Izzy Gianniou chipped in with seven assists on the weekend and added four kills.
 
Freshman Lynnica Harley had two kills on the weekend, while adding a solo block. Freshman Jalea Taylor had one assisted block.
 
Friday vs. Illinois Tech
Against the Scarlet Hawks, Onozie led Alverno with eight kills, while McMath had 10 assists. McMath and West each had one ace, while West and Kooch secured six digs apiece.
 
The Scarlet Hawks opened up an early 5-1 lead in the first set, which swelled to 19-7 before Illinois Tech closed out the opener 25-9.
 
The Inferno trailed again early in the second set at 9-3 before three unanswered by the Inferno as West collected a kill and an ace. After trailing 14-8, Alverno scored five of the next seven points to trim the deficit to 16-13. A late surge by the Scarlet Hawks put the set away at 25-17.
 
In the third set, Alverno opened up the quick lead at 4-1 before the Scarlet Hawks knotted the score at four. Alverno took a two-point lead on three occasions over the next series, before five unanswered by Illinois Tech gave the home team the 13-10 lead. Alverno could not close the gap in the latter stages as the Scarlet Hawks won 25-21.
 
Saturday vs. MSOE
Returning home, the Inferno were led by West with nine kills and McMath with 14 assists. Flannery led the team with a pair of aces, while McMath led in digs with nine and Upshur led with a pair of blocks.
 
MSOE started out the opening set with a quick 6-2 lead and led 18-13 later in the set. Gianniou had a kill to spark a rally for the Inferno as her kill was followed by a pair of aces by Flannery and an error by the Raiders to pull Alverno within one at 18-17. The score was tied at 20 before MSOE scored five of the last six points for the 25-21 win.
 
MSOE took a 10-5 lead before a well-timed timeout sparked Alverno for four of the next six bookended by a pair of kills by West to get Alverno within a pair at 11-9. A 9-3 run by the Raiders surged MSOE ahead to 20-12 before the teams exchanged points as MSOE won the set 25-16.
 
After splitting the opening eight points in the third set, and 8-1 run by the Raiders gave the visitors a 12-5 lead. Alverno stormed back with six unanswered including a pair of kills by Harley and kills by McMath and Gianniou to get the Inferno within 12-11. The Inferno trailed 16-15 before MSOE scored the next eight before closing out the set 25-16.
 
Up Next
The road-warrior Inferno (4-13, 0-7 NACC) kicked off its six-match homestand against MSOE, and will play the next five at home including Tuesday evening, when the Inferno play host to non-conference Lake Forest at 7 p.m. inside Reiman Gymnasium.