WINONA &045;&160;An up and down season for the Albert Lea volleyball team came to a conclusion Monday with a four game loss to Winona in a sectional play-in game.

The Tigers were in every game but unforced errors proved to be the team’s undoing 22-25, 22-25, 25-22, 21-25.

&8220;It was a long bus ride up there and I know everyone was disappointed on the way back,&8221; said Albert Lea head coach Preston Peper.

&8220;We had our chances but we just couldn’t close out a couple of games.&8221;

Albert Lea did get several strong performances to end the season led by Annika Smed who had 16 kills and four aces.

Kat Ladwig dished out 33 assists and Brooke Woitas had four aces.

The Tigers struggled to find consistency all season long in large part because of injuries that never allowed the team to identify its most cohesive group of players.

&8220;We had high expectations coming into the season, but it seemed that we were always shuffling the lineup which made it hard on everyone,&8221; said Peper.

Albert Lea finished the season with a 2-7 mark in Big Nine Conference action.

The Tigers lose five seniors off the team from this season, but will still have returning players with varsity experience next season led by Ladwig and Smed.