WELLS &045; The USC volleyball team overcame a slow start to down Albert Lea in four games 20-25, 25-12, 25-21, 25-19.

The Rebels were led by two strong serving performances in the match from Shawnee Sovell and Ciara Christenson.

The pair combined for nine of the team’s 10 aces, while Christenson dished out 17 assists.

Kirsten Thisius paced the team with seven kills, Erin Yokiel and Mallory Aukes each had five kills.

The Tigers came out fired up in game one and played an all-around solid match to win.

However, they would not be able to hold that same level of play over the next three games.

&uot;I don’t know if we let down after that first game, but we started missing some serves and were not getting the kills we did in the first game,&uot; said Albert Lea head coach Preston Peper.

This past weekend the Tigers finished 1-3 at the John Marshall Invite.

The Tigers defeated Austin 22-25, 25-12, 15-5 for their victory.

However, St. Charles (16-25, 14-25), Kasson-Mantorville (25-23, 7-25, 9-15) and Blooming Prairie (25-22, 18-25, 9-15) all downed the Tigers.

Albert Lea is back in action tonight at home when they host Winona, and the Rebels square off against Medford in Wells.