At last weekend’s Macalester-hosted Minnesota-Iowa Border Challenge volleyball tournament, Mac volleyball won nearly all of its matches, losing only to the nationally-ranked Central College Dutch in a five-game heartbreaker.

Eight teams competed in the Border Challenge, which is co-hosted by St. Thomas and is held in the fieldhouse. The tournament is based on a round-robin model that allows four teams from the Hawkeye State to spar with four MIAC rivals for regional bragging rights.

Along with the hosts, the tournament featured St. Mary’s and Concordia from the MIAC, while teams from Loras, Simpson, Wartburg and Central represented Iowa. The competition did not include playoffs or a championship: teams from Minnesota played each team from Iowa once. The Scots’ 3-1 record contributed to an impressive 12-4 outcome for Minnesota.

Mac went 1-1 on Friday taking each match into the 5th game and logging well over 4.5 hours on the court. Opening the day against the Wartburg Knights, Mac stumbled over several early errors. However, after losing the first game, the team bounced back and won the next two 30-23. The fourth game went to the Knights. In a tight deciding game, Macalester prevailed 15-12, thanks in large to a late ace and a clutch spike from Bonnie Driscoll ’07.

The second match of the day pitted the Scots against Central College. Macalester won the first game, dropped the next two and then came back from an early deficit in the fourth to push the match to a final game. After trailing early, the Scots used strong team play to give themselves a 14-13 lead and a chance to serve for the win. Central recovered to tie 14-14, however, and the Dutch eventually walked away with a 15-17 victory.

On day two, Macalester pulled off 3-0 sweeps against both Simpson and Loras. Knocking off Simpson 30-27, 30-28, 30-22, Mac showed no signs of letting up when facing Loras later that day. In a match that included a remarkable performance from Maggie Buttermore ’07 (12 kills at an almost 48 percent accuracy rate) and the college debut of Kate Fahje ’08, the team notched its third win of the tournament improving its overall record to 8-13.

In tournament statistics, Lauren Eberhart ’07 led the team at the net with 81 kills and an active Kari Tanaka ’08 contributed 104 assists. May-Lin Kessenich ’05 provided strong defense with 87 digs over the two days.

“I’m happy with how we played,” Tate said, who added 49 kills and 42 digs of her own. Only Concordia-Moorhead finished with a better tournament record (4-0) than Macalester, as Macalester and the other Minnesota teams upheld the MIAC’s strong reputation.