ORANGE CITY, Iowa – Grace's volleyball team kicked off the 2012 season at the Red Raider Classic on Friday, earning a split on the day.

The Lady Lancers swept Baker (Kan.) in their first match of the day before falling to Doane (Neb.) in four sets.

In their opener against Baker, the Lady Lancers (1-1) got off to a strong start by recording 13 kills on only six errors to win 25-18. They used that momentum to take the final two sets by the score of 25-16 and 25-22.

Junior Dana Johnston impressed with a team-high nine kills on a .500 hitting percentage. Calah Kruse added seven kills and a pair of service aces, and Alicia Gosney chipped in with 5 kills, 3 aces and 12 digs.

Sophomore setter Christina LeBlanc tallied 25 assists, and Bethany Whitcraft recorded 10 digs.

Their second match of the day with Doane seemed to be headed Grace's direction as the Lady Lancers started out with a 25-17 win in the first set. As a team, Grace tallied 12 kills on four errors.

The Lady Lancers were not able to keep pace with the Tigers (2-0) after that point, however. Doane went on to take the next three sets by the scores of 25-18, 25-11 and 25-21 to win the match.

Stefanie Bolt led the Lady Lancers in the loss with 11 kills on a .240 percentage. Whitcraft led all players with 17 digs, and Johnston recorded 9 kills, 2 solo blocks and 1 block assist.

Kruse chipped in with eight kills, and LeBlanc dished out 35 assists with five digs.

“We started the day looking strong. Our team was simply ready to play their first match after a long three-week preseason,” said Grace head coach Andria Harshman. “We were really gelling and in system through the opening match. Overall, we are a team that can compete at this level, even with three sophomore starters and one junior starter. This is a group to watch for big things to come out of this year.”

The Lady Lancers will continue tournament action on Saturday when they play Dordt and Northwestern.