After watching Mankato East in Saturday’s Jackson County Central Invitational, Albert Lea High School volleyball coach Gina Eppen was confident her Tigers could give the Cougars a battle Tuesday night.

It didn’t work out that way.

The Cougars were much tougher than expected, handing the Tigers a one-sided 3-0 loss in the ALHS gym by scores of 15-2, 15-3, 15-3.

&uot;This East team looked a lot stronger than the team we saw Saturday,&uot; said Eppen. &uot;At Jackson, their hitters didn’t communicate very well. Tonight, they communicated very well. Their outside hitter got between our blockers a couple times and their middle hitter, who didn’t get anything Saturday, did tonight.&uot;

The Tigers didn’t get many chances to serve, going 18-for-21 for the match.

Their biggest problem was on the other end of the Cougars’ serves.

&uot;We had a lot of passing errors tonight,&uot; said Eppen. &uot;Quite honestly, when you can’t pass the ball, you can’t get things started.&uot;

On the positive side, Eppen said that when the Tigers did connect, they hit the ball much better than they did Saturday.

The Tigers’ statistical leaders Thursday: Whitney Sorenson four kills, one block; Danielle Rankin four kills; Ashley Chrz two kills, three set assists; Leah Boyer, eight set assists, three digs; Christina Berggren three blocks, three digs; Jenny Hovendick seven digs.

The loss dropped the Tigers’ record to 1-9.

&uot;Hopefully, our homecoming win will come at Rochester,&uot; said Eppen, whose team travels to John Marshall for a Big Nine match Thursday.

Eppen is again hopeful of a win.

&uot;John Marshall has no wins to date,&uot; said Eppen. &uot;They’re a team we beat last year, and I think we can probably beat this year. Quite honestly, we need a win.&uot;