WINONA LAKE, Ind. - A classic back-and-forth Crossroads League tilt went against Grace on Friday night as Bethel topped Grace in five sets.

The Lady Lancers (8-7, 0-3 CL) squandered an early lead after winning the first set and ultimately just missed out on grabbing its first league win of the season.

Bethel jumped ahead to start the match, scoring seven of the first nine points in the first set. Grace recovered and claimed its first lead at 14-13. The score remained close with Grace holding a slight 21-20 advantage, but Grace ended the set with four straight points to win 25-20.

In the second set, Grace fell behind early and struggled to regain its footing. The Pilots (8-5, 3-1 CL) edged ahead 23-18 late, and Grace managed to score three points in a row to cut the gap to two. But after a timeout, Bethel took two of the next three rallies to win by three.

The script was similar in the third set as Bethel opened up a lead from the outset. Grace was forced to burn a timeout trailing 14-8, and the maneuver from head coach Katie Van Hofwegen seemed to work. Grace went on an 8-2 spurt to tie the score at 16-16, but Bethel had the answer. The Pilots used a 5-1 run of their own to pull away and win 25-21.

The fourth set proved to be Grace's most efficient. The Lady Lancers had just three attacking errors in the game and hit at a .200 percentage. Sierra Smith sent the match to a fifth set with an emphatic kill, winning the game 25-21 for Grace.

In the tiebreaker, Bethel did not make a mistake. The Pilots spurted in front 6-1 from the first serve and never looked back, easing away for a 15-6 win.

Grace's balanced offense saw three players notch double-digit kills. Kelsee Zuidema led the Lady Lancers with 11 kills to go along with two block assists. Kaitlin Kerrigan had a double-double with 10 kills and 18 digs, and Grace Woolsey added 10 kills.

Laken Chaney passed out 44 assists, dug up 12 balls and aced 3 times, and Sara Miller racked up a career-high 29 digs. Smith finished with eight kills, and Annie Salazar tallied 10 digs.

Grace had 52 kills as a team compared to 49 for Bethel, but the Lady Lancers had three more attacking errors. Grace also was responsible for 12 service errors and had six ball-handling errors.

The Lady Lancers' next league match is Saturday at Goshen. First serve against the Maple Leafs is set for 4 p.m.