BOURBONNAIS, Ill. - Friday was a blissful beginning to the fall campaign for Grace's volleyball team.

The Lancers won both of their matches, dropping just one set at the Olivet Nazarene Tournament.

Grace kicked off the year with a 3-0 sweep of Ave Maria before taking down Mount Mercy 3-1.

In the opener, Grace won in three sets, but Ave Maria proved to be a challenging opponent.

The Lancers pulled ahead 5-2 in the opening set and still held a 17-13 lead minutes later.

But the Gyrenes rattled off five quick points to take a one-point lead and eventually led 22-20. The Lancers rallied, however, taking five of the next six points to win 25-23. Livia Tate and Callie Jo Celichowski had timely kills, and freshman setter Carsyn Witt ended the game with a kill at the net.

Grace trailed for most of the second set but kept within striking distance. Ave Maria held a late 23-20 advantage, but the Lancers recovered again. Grace won four of the next five rallies, including a set-saving kill from Anna Elkin to even the score at 24-24.

Tate then took over, producing two kills and a block over the last three rallies to hand Grace a 27-25 victory.

The third set belonged to Grace. An early six-point run put the Lancers in the driver's seat, and Grace cruised to a 25-17 win to end the match.

Freshman Levyn Snow led Grace in her debut with 10 kills on a .300 percentage, and Tate had nine kills on 11 attempts (.818 percentage).

Witt had a match-leading 24 assists, and Liz Schmidt led all players with 12 digs.

In the second match, Grace's offense was too much for Mount Mercy to handle. The Lancers racked up 61 kills, 18 more than the Mustangs.

Mount Mercy jumped out to a fast start, grabbing a first-set win by nine points. But the Lancers  had the final say in the match.

Leah Henderson had two kills in a row to begin the second set, and Grace grabbed a 12-7 advantage. The Lancers' cushion expanded to double digits shortly after, and Grace won by eight. Elkin had Grace's final three kills during the set.

During the third set, Grace held a slight lead for much of the game. The Lancers were on top 20-17 and ended the set with kills from Leah Henderson, Abby Leffring and Olivia Martinez to win 25-18.

The fourth set was back-and-forth. The score was even at 19-19; then, Leffring had a kill and shared a block with Martinez to open up a 21-19 lead.

The Lancers pulled away with kills from Martinez, Celichowski and Henderson en route to a 25-21 win.

Elkin enjoyed a dominant double-double with 17 kills and 16 digs, Martinez had 13 kills and Henderson added 12 kills.

Witt exploded with 50 assists and 12 digs, Schmidt produced 30 digs, and Celichowski had 11 kills and two block assists.

The Lancers will end the tourney with two more matches. At 10 a.m. (Central Time), Grace will battle with Cumberland, another team like Grace who is "receiving votes" in the initial NAIA poll of the season. Immediately after, the Lancers will tangle with the tournament hosts Olivet Nazarene to wrap up the weekend.