MOUNT VERNON, Ohio - Grace's volleyball team gave No. 12 Mt. Vernon Nazarene a fight on Wednesday, eventually falling in five sets on the road.

The Lancers stunned the Cougars (21-7, 12-4 Crossroads League) by taking the first two sets. But the Cougars recovered in front of their home crowd, taking the next three sets to escape with a win.

In the opening set, Grace found itself in an early hole with a 14-7 deficit. But Grace rattled off seven of the next eight points, including two kills and a block from Molly Hofmann, to erase the deficit.

A 4-0 spurt by Grace put the Lancers on top 19-18, ending with an ace from Reese McCutchan.

MVNU recovered to grab a 24-23 lead, but the Lancers swiftly responded. Hofmann pounded out a kill; she then teamed up for a block with Livia Tate, and Tate wrapped up the set with a kill as Grace won 26-24.

In the second set, Grace found itself behind again 18-12 as attack errors and aces plagued the Lancers.

But Grace generated another timely run, surging back to tie the score at 20s. Anna Elkin had a pair of kills, and Olivia Martinez aced during the spurt.

The Lancers then ended the set on a 5-1 run to win the set 25-22. Grace held MVNU to six kills in the second set.

MVNU found quick revenge, taking the third set (25-19) and the fourth (25-10) to force a tiebreaker.

Grace began the fifth set on a strong note. Early kills from Elkin, Hofmann and Tate propelled the Lancers to a quick 7-3 lead.

But Grace's offense hit a rut to end the set. Grace had four attack errors and a service error, helping the Cougars to erase the Lancers' lead. MVNU scored the final six points of the set to sneak away with a 15-10 victory.

Hofmann had 11 kills on a .286 percentage to go along with four block assists, Abby Leffring notched 10 kills (.412 percentage) with three block assists.

Elkin produced 10 kills and three block assists, Tate amassed eight block assists with four kills, and Levyn Snow added seven kills and three block assists.

Liz Schmidt led all players with 23 digs, Carsyn Witt had 20 assists, and McCutchan passed out 17 assists, 3 aces and 8 digs. Martinez collected nine digs, and Emma Blackford aced twice and had six digs.

The Lancers will return home on Saturday to take on Huntington at 1 p.m. Saturday will also be Grace's Senior Day to honor its graduating class.