No. 19 Grace Stuns No. 16 MVNU with Reverse Sweep

MOUNT VERNON, Ohio - The comeback crew for Grace's volleyball team struck again on Wednesday.

The No. 19-ranked Lancers faced a daunting 2-0 deficit on the road at No. 16 Mt. Vernon Nazarene.

But Grace engineered a dramatic rally, stunning the home crowd to win 3-2. The reverse sweep was Grace's fourth comeback victory of the season.

The Lancers (12-2, 6-1 Crossroads League) have won six matches in a row, propelling the squad into sole possession of second place in the league standings.

In the opening set, MVNU held a slight edge in the latter portions before Grace rallied to tie the score at 22-22. But the Cougars (17-2, 5-2 CL) executed down the stretch, winning the final three points to claim the opener 25-22.

MVNU stifled Grace's attack in the second set. Grace mustered just seven kills (.000 percentage) in the set; the Cougars won 25-17 and put themselves seemingly in control of the match.

But Grace had other plans. The Lancers began the third set with five unanswered points, including two straight kills from Sahara Bee and an ace from Olivia Martinez.

Later in the set, the Cougars used a 7-1 spurt to pull in front 14-13. The teams traded small runs over the next few minutes until the score was even at 21s.

Grace's offense came alive down the stretch. Jadyn Ross was responsible for three of Grace's final five kills, including the final kill as the Lancers won 25-22.

The Lancers repeated their hot start in the fourth set by going up 5-0. Grace led by as many as nine in the set and coasted to a 25-18 victory to force a winner-take-all fifth set.

The sides exchanged points in the nervy tiebreaker. MVNU owned a 10-9 lead before a kill by Bee tied the score at 10-10.

Grace then turned to dynamic server Emma Blackford, and the junior helped spark four more points in a row. Blackford aced, and Alisa Voss had a kill and a block.

Two timeouts from the Cougars could not stop Grace's comeback dreams, and the Lancers pulled away to win 15-11. Grace's defense allowed just one kill over the final seven rallies.

Bee was dominant with 16 kills on a .379 percentage to go along with four block assists.

Voss also had four block assists to go along with 13 kills on a .444 percentage.

Livia Tate tallied 6 kills, 2 solo blocks and 6 block assists to power Grace's blocking efforts.

Ross finished with 9 kills, 4 digs and 2 block assists, Anna Elkin provided seven kills with four digs, and Anna Ballengee had six kills with seven digs.

Morgan Syoen amassed 41 digs with 1 ace, 2 block assists and 5 digs.

Liz Schmidt ended the match with 21 assists and two aces, McKenzie Stakely added 15 digs, and Martinez tallied 13 digs with an ace.

The Lancers return home on Saturday for a 1 p.m. showdown with Huntington.