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OSHTEMO — The six-match winning streak of the Southwestern Michigan College volleyball team came to an end Thursday night as Kalamazoo Valley Community College defeated the visiting Roadrunners 3-1.

Earlier in the day Southwestern Michigan, which is currently in third-place in the Michigan Community College Athletic Association Western Conference, had clinched a spot in the Great Lakes District Tournament, which is a national-qualifying event.

Despite the 27-25, 25-20, 15-25 and 26-24 loss to the Cougars, the Roadrunners (22-10, 6-5 Western Conference) remain alone in third place with one conference match remaining.

“We seemed to get a little behind in the first two sets and the last set, and although we fought our way back in, we really only controlled the runs in the third set,” SMC Coach Jenny NNate said. “KVCC played tough tonight, and they really challenged us to find ways to score and get a little faster defensively. We improved throughout the match, but they were able to stay a step ahead of us for the majority of the match.”

Nikki Nate (Niles) led the Roadrunners with 13 kills, while she also had 15 digs, four blocks and seven points. Buchanan’s Josie West had 12 digs, a team-high 22 digs and four points, while Centreville’s Sophia Deeds had nine kills and five blocks.

Bianca Hobson (Kalamazoo/Loy Norrix) ended the night with seven kills and a team-high nine blocks. Emma Beckman (Niles) had a team-high 21 assists to go along with six digs and five kills.

On Tuesday night, Southwestern Michigan will host rival Lake Michigan College in its final Western Conference match. The two teams will also be raising money for cancer research with its second annual Dig Pink match.

The Roadrunners went back to work Friday to prepare for the Red Hawks.

“We will take the loss and get back to work tomorrow focused on regrouping, analyzing our game, and preparing for LMC on Tuesday,” she said.