WINONA LAKE, Ind. - Grace's volleyball team produced a key Crossroads League victory on Saturday afternoon, sinking Bethel 3-1.

The win propels the Lancers into sole possession of fifth place in the league standings with three matches remaining in the regular season.

Grace enjoyed a balanced offensive evening, led by its underclassmen. Grace's top six hitters on the night were either freshmen or sophomores.

The Lancers trailed early in the first three sets of the match, managing to rally late in two of those.

To start the match, Grace fell into a quick 6-2 hole. The Lancers kept the score close, eventually tying the score at 14-14 after a kill and a block from Anna Elkin.

A few minutes later, Levyn Snow produced two quick kills and Liz Schmidt aced. Grace led 21-17 as Bethel had to call timeout. The Lancers would not be slowed, however, as an ace from Reese McCutchan as well as late kills from Snow, Elkin and Abby Leffring iced the opening-set win 25-20.

Grace hit a sizzling 14 kills on a .367 percentage in the first set. Leffring had four kills on four swings in the set, and Elkin had four kills on six attempts.

The second set was nearly identical. Bethel owned a 12-7 cushion at the early stages before Grace went on a surge.

The Lancers enjoyed an 8-2 run, forcing the Pilots to burn two timeouts. Leah Henderson had two kills during that spurt as Grace pulled in front 18-17.

Grace slowly built its lead, eventually serving for the set at 24-20.

The Pilots showed some fight, rattling off four unanswered points to force extra points. But a Pilot service error was followed up by a kill from Elkin as Grace won 26-24.

Grace amassed 17 kills in the second set, fueled by four kills apiece from Snow, Henderson and Molly Hofmann.

Bethel led early again in the third set; this time, however, BU kept its lead. The Pilots benefited from Grace's nine attack errors, rolling away to a 25-15 win to stay alive.

The fourth set broke from the script. Grace grabbed a 7-4 lead to begin the set, but the Pilots recovered and took a 13-11 advantage.

Midway into the set, Grace took the lead for good. Olivia Martinez produced a pair of kills as the Lancers surged in front 18-16. 

An ace from Reagan Owens pushed Grace's margin to four as Bethel had to burn both timeouts.

BU slashed Grace's lead down to one at 21-20, but a kill from Henderson and a block from Hofmann and Livia Tate resumed Grace's three-point edge. 

Over the final few rallies, Elkin and Hofmann generated kills as Grace polished off the win 25-22.

Elkin led Grace with 14 kills on a .444 percentage. Leffring amassed nine kills on a .562 percentage, adding a pair of block assists, and Hofmann had 9 kills (.231 percentage), 7 digs and 3 block assists.

Snow and Henderson each finished with eight kills, and Martinez added seven digs and three kills.

Liz Schmidt racked up 21 digs with nine assists, and Emma Blackford notched 12 digs while being perfect in serve receive (35 receptions).

McCutchan passed out 22 assists, 8 digs and 2 aces, and Carsyn Witt had 17 assists and five digs.

The Lancers play twice next week, traveling to No. 12 Mt. Vernon Nazarene on Wednesday and playing home against Huntington on Saturday (1 p.m.). Saturday's match with HU will also be Grace's Senior Day to honor the Lancers' graduating class.