KALAMAZOO, Mich. - The Kalamazoo College volleyball team rallied to win its home opener in five sets over Albion College in front of an energetic crowd at Anderson Athletic Center on Friday.
Albion won the first two sets 25-17, 26-24. Kalamazoo trailed 24-17 in the second set before scoring seven straight points to even the score before Albion scored the final two points for the win.
Albion looked to close things out in the third set with a 19-11 lead. The Britons were within two points (23-17) of winning the match before Kalamazoo scored eight straight points to win the set (25-23) and stay alive.
After an even start to the fourth set Kalamazoo used runs to lead 12-7 and 19-7 before closing out the 25-10 win to force a fifth set.
Kalamazoo struck early in the deciding set as the Hornets jumped out to a 7-1 lead. Albion made it 10-6, but could not get any closer as the Hornets won the final set 15-8.
Kalamazoo hit a season-best .258 in the match with 53 kills and 14 errors.
Maria Katrantzi led the Hornets with 14 kills and eight digs with a .234 percentage.
Shelby Suseland finished with 12 kills, five blocks and a .286 percentage.
Kaela Van Til finished with 10 kills and 18 digs while Sidney Wall added nine kills with four blocks and a .500 percentage. Rachel Girard added five kills with five blocks.
Kaiya Herman-Hilker recorded 39 assists with eight digs and three kills. Dana DeVito led the team with 21 digs.
Kalamazoo has a quick turnaround with a pair of matches at Trine on Saturday. The Hornets play Trine at 11 a.m. followed by a non-conference match with Manchester at 1 p.m.