WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. - Grace's volleyball team began its second tournament of the year on Thursday in Florida.

The Lancers split their opening day at Keiser, beating Columbia (S.C.) 3-0 before a narrow 3-2 defeat to Mobile.

Grace's first match was a dominating performance against the Koalas. The Lancers enjoyed a 37-12 advantage in kills during the match, holding Columbia to a negative hitting percentage in each of the three sets.

Grace was swift in winning the match, taking the three sets by the scores of 25-7, 25-11 and 25-11.

Abby Leffring was credited with a perfect hitting performance, hitting nine kills on her nine attempts. Livia Tate racked up 8 kills, 1 solo block and 2 block assists, and Carsyn Witt collected 27 assists and eight digs.

Olivia Martinez finished with seven kills (.400 percentage) and six digs, Brea Harris produced four kills with nine digs, Reagan Owens had two aces and six digs, and Emma Blackford notched seven digs with an ace.

Grace took to the court immediately again for the team's second match of the day, taking on Mobile. The Rams boasted a stout 31-5 record last year and made the NAIA tournament.

The first two sets set the stage for a thrilling match. Mobile claimed the opening set 25-23 despite Grace having a 13-10 kill advantage.

Grace dialed up its offense even more in the second set, producing 17 kills. Each one was needed as the Lancers won 26-24. Henderson ended the set with back-to-back kills during extra points.

The Rams pulled ahead in the match with a nine-point win during the third set, and Grace echoed that with a 25-16 win in set four.

In the tiebreaker, Grace seemed to have momentum. The Lancers used a timely 7-1 run to surge ahead 14-10 on a kill from Levyn Snow. 

But a timeout from Mobile allowed the Rams to recover, and Mobile managed to string together six unanswered points to sneak away with a 16-14 victory.

Snow was a force, amassing a match-high 20 kills to go along with nine digs and two block assists.

Anna Elkin had nine kills and four digs, Henderson produced 9 kills, 7 digs and 3 block assists,  and Martinez tallied 12 digs, 5 kills and 3 aces.

Witt posted a double-double with 48 assists and 12 digs, Blackford and Owens each had seven digs and two aces, and Tate notched eight kills with two block assists.

The Lancers end the tourney with two more matches on Friday, including Southeastern at 9 a.m. and the host Keiser at 1 p.m.