FORT WAYNE, Ind. - Grace's volleyball team won its 10th match of the year, beating St. Francis 3-1 on Wednesday.
Liz Schmidt reached a personal milestone with her 19-dig performance; Schmidt has now eclipsed 1,500 digs in her impressive career.
During Wednesday's match, Grace stumbled out of the gate with three straight attack errors. The Lancers found themselves trailing 7-2.
Grace managed to rally and evened the score at 19-19, but the Cougars collected three quick points and rode that margin to a 25-21 win.
The Lancers committed 12 attacking errors in the opening set.
In the second set, the Cougars scored the first three points, but Grace immediately recovered. Molly Hofmann notched two kills and a block point in quick succession to push Grace in front.
The Lancers held a small lead throughout the middle portions of the set until a late USF push handed the Cougars a 21-20 lead.
A timeout from Grace was all that the Lancers needed; Grace responded by winning the next five points. Hofmann and Livia Tate teamed up for two blocks, Reagan Owens served up an ace, and Hofmann ended the set 25-21 on a kill.
The third set was a dominant performance by Grace. The Lancers won 25-7, ending the set on a 19-3 run. Grace scored the final 10 points of the set thanks to four kills by Anna Elkin.
In the fourth set, Grace turned an 11-9 lead into an eight-point cushion with six unanswered points. Elkin bookended the spurt with two kills each at the beginning and the end of the run.
Elkin fittingly wrapped up the match with a kill on the final play, ending the fourth set with a 25-18 victory for the Lancers. Elkin was a force in the set, racking up nine kills.
Grace finished the match with 53 kills on a .189 percentage compared to 33 kills on a .050 percentage for USF.
Elkin had a match-high 19 kills on a .260 percentage, adding seven digs and an ace.
Carsyn Witt produced a double-double with 34 assists, 11 digs, 3 kills and 2 block assists, and Levyn Snow had 11 kills on a .308 percentage.
Schmidt's 19 digs came with seven assists, Callie Jo Celichowski tallied nine kills (.389 percentage) and four block assists, and Tate had a solo block and four block assists.
Hofmann racked up seven kills with five block assists, and Olivia Martinez and Owens each chipped in seven digs.
The Lancers will remain on the road on Saturday for a 1 p.m. match at Bethel. Grace will then return home on Wednesday, Sept. 24, to take on No. 16 Mt. Vernon Nazarene.
