Volleyball: Lang records 26 kills in four-set loss to Albion

OLIVET, Mich. – Senior Stefanie Lang pounded down 26 kills, but it was not enough as the Olivet College volleyball team fell in four sets to Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association (MIAA) rival Albion College tonight at The Cutler Event Center in Olivet. The 26 kills by Lang was the most by a player in a four-set MIAA match this season. The Britons won by scores of 25-22, 11-25, 25-17, 29-27.

Albion led the first set from start-to-finish, leading it by as many as eight points on two occasions, 16-8 and 17-9. The Comets scored the first eight points of the second set and cruised to a 25-11 win. In the set, Olivet had a .429 attack percentage with 14 kills.

The Comets led the second set 10-6 before the Britons went on a 6-1 run to take a 12-11 lead. Olivet tied the set on a Lang kill. Albion then took control of the set by scoring five straight points to go up 17-12. The Comets never recovered, losing the set 25-17.

The Britons had a 23-17 lead late in the fourth set. Olivet responded with seven consecutive points to get to set point, 24-23. A service error knotted the score at 24-24. The teams traded points and with the score tied at 27-27, back-to-back Comet attack errors handed the match to Albion.

For the match, Olivet had a .185 hitting percentage (63 kills and 28 errors on 189 attempts) to .177 attack percentage (50 kills and 19 errors on 175 attempts) for the Britons. To go along with her 26 kills, Lang recorded only five errors on 51 attempts for .412 attack percentage. Sophomore Ashlee Roussey finished with a single-match, season-high 13 kills.

Senior Taylor Pringle dished out a single-match, season-high 36 set assists. In the back, sophomore libero Mona Hinamanu tied her single-match, season-high with 27 digs. Lang added 15 digs, while freshman Courtney Cronkright had 14 digs.

Olivet travels to Whitewater, Wis., for the 2014 Dig Panici Classic Friday and Saturday at University of Wisconsin-Whitewater. On Friday night, the Comets play Wis.-Stevens Point at 6 p.m. and North Central (Ill.) College at 8 p.m., and on Saturday, they play the host Warhawks at 11 a.m. and Coe (Iowa) College at 1 p.m.

NOTES: With her 26 kills, Lang now has the 349 for the season, which is the most by an Olivet player since the 2001 season. The total also gives her 779 in her three-year career, which ranks third most all-time in a career since 2001.