FORT WAYNE, Ind. – Grace's volleyball team has proved doubters wrong all season. They did so again on Saturday afternoon.
The Lady Lancers, who have battled through key injuries this fall, shocked St. Francis with a 3-2 win in the quarterfinals of the Crossroads League Tournament.
Grace lost the first two sets but showed tremendous resiliency to upset the Cougars (21-13), who are receiving votes in the NAIA Top 25 Coaches' Poll.
With the win, Grace will advance to the tournament semifinals. The Lady Lancers will travel to No. 12 Marian on Wednesday at 7 p.m.
Anna Frey just missed a double-double with 15 kills and nine digs, and Gabbey Harrington produced 14 kills on a .205 percentage.
The outcome seemed bleak for the Lady Lancers (17-17) after the opening two sets. Grace struggled to slow down USF, allowing the Cougars to pound out 29 kills. USF won the opening two sets 25-20 and 25-17.
But the Lady Lancers stayed alive with a third-set victory. Strong serving early on from Gina Novotny and Emily Sharp helped Grace to a 6-3 lead.
The set remained close and was knotted at 21-21. Hanna Leach put Grace ahead with a kill, and Harrington added another to help Grace to a three-point win.
The fourth set was even more dramatic. Grace had an early 6-0 run to gain separation, thanks to a kill and an ace from Makaela Lochmueller and a block from Leach and Alexa Hill.
The Cougars came back with a late 5-1 spurt, and USF held off two set points to tie the score at 24-24. But Grace's defense held firm, and USF committed two straight errors for a Grace 26-24 victory.
The Lady Lancers owned all the momentum going into the decisive fifth set. Grace won the first five points thanks to the serving of Novotny. Harrington and Lochmueller had back-to-back kills, and Novotny's ace put Grace in control 5-0.
Grace led 8-3 as the teams changed sides of the court, and the Lady Lancers were on the brink with a 14-8 lead.
The Cougars survived three straight match points before Harrington and Leach combined for a block on the final point of the game.
Lochmueller was a force at the net with seven kills and seven block assists, and Deborah Michalski had eight kills. Novotny tallied 20 digs with two aces, and Grace Erwin had eight digs.
Hill produced 46 assists, 10 digs and 6 block assists in a memorable performance.
