Alyssa Lapierre plays the ball for Saranac Lake during Friday’s home match against Plattsburgh. Also pictured are Tailor Witson (10) of the Red Storm and Plattsburgh’s Hannah Giroux. (Enterprise photo — Lou Reuter)

SARANAC LAKE — For the second time in as many matches, Saranac Lake’s volleyball team found itself in a tight contest but wound up on the wrong side of the scoreboard in a 3-1 loss at home Friday against Plattsburgh.

The teams each won a game to kick off the match and the Hornets went on to take the third and fourth games to claim the win. Plattsburgh started with a 25-19 win in the first game, the Red Storm took the next 25-22 and the Hornets grabbed 25-23 and 25-19 victories in the third and fourth games.

With a group of young players stepping in to replace veterans who helped the Red Storm win three straight Section VII, Class C titles, head coach Mike Navarra said a big focus of this spring season is building toward the future.

“We’re young, we have a large team, it’s literally three teams,” Navarra said. “Overall, we were able to play everyone, which is the most positive thing. I think we’ve changed directions a bit. Obviously, we want to be competitive but we’re looking to the future.

“We were so much better than our first match, and overall, I think the girls did well,” Navarra added. “We progressed forward and made a positive advancement toward where we want to be, which is continuing to be a successful program.”

Anica Null led Saranac Lake with nine points and Alison Hewitt had eight digs for the Red Storm defensively.

Also for Saranac Lake, Alyssa LaPierre recorded seven points and six digs, Madison Clark had five points and four digs, and senior Kelsey Leeret finished with five points and five digs.

Navarra said one thing that hurt Saranac Lake was poor serving.

“Our serving was disappointing,” he said. “Plattsburgh, I think they were scrapping, they played really good defense and they served really well.”

After starting off the season with two losses, the Red Storm look to pick up a win in their next match, slated for home Thursday against AuSable Valley.