Alma College vs. Thomas More College NCAA Division III Great Lakes Regional Quarterfinal

4:30 p.m. -- Alma (31-5) def. Thomas More (21-19)
Final Score 3-1 (30-16, 21-30, 33-31, 30-26)

The Alma College Scots improved to 31-5 on the 2003 season with a hard-fought four-game NCAA Division III Great Lakes Regional Quarterfinal victory over the Thomas More College Saints. The Scots, champions of the Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association, won the match 30-16, 21-30, 33-31 and 30-26.

The first game was surprisingly lopsided as Alma got out to a strong start and cruised, in particular thanks to an 11-point serving run by Kristin Judson midway through the game. But in the second game, Thomas More found its rhythm and posted a comfortable win to even the score. In Game 3, the lead went back and forth until Thomas More took a 27-24 lead. From that point, Alma rallied thanks to a pair of kills by Kristin Judson and two more by Kerri Judson.

The most exciting of the games turned out to be Game 4 as Alma's Keri Judson served the last 11 points of the match to rally her team from a 26-19 deficit. Erin Fralick had five kills in the decisive 11-point run. Alma trailed by as much as nine points in that game before staging their surprising rally to claim the victory.

Alma was led statistically by Fralick with 17 kills and Caitlin Deis with 14 kills. Fralick had a .395 kill percentage in 38 attack attempts. Lindsey Baker added 43 assists and three players topped 20 digs in the match - Kristin Judson with 36, Deis with 24 and Kerri Judson with 24. Thomas More picked up 19 kills from Tracy Baumann and 39 assists from Jackie Gentile to pace the offense. Defensively, the Saints got 33 digs from Laura Wiegele to lead five players who reached double figures in digs.