SPRING ARBOR, Mich. - Grace's volleyball team produced a hard-fought win in five sets at Spring Arbor.
The No. 13 Lancers extended their winning streak to eight in a row thanks to Wednesday's key road victory.
Grace maintains a one-game lead atop the Crossroads League standings, setting up a massive home match on Saturday. The Lancers will tangle with second-place Taylor on Saturday at 1 p.m. at home.
The Lancers (23-3, 11-1 CL) won despite an atypically inefficient attack. Grace did have 13 more kills than SAU (55 to 42), but the Lancers hit at a .094 percentage.
The Cougars (15-8, 7-5 CL) struggled even more, hitting .058 as a team.
SAU jumped ahead quickly into the first set, doubling up Grace at 10-5. The Cougars built a six-point edge at 21-15.
Grace produced a valiant rally, scoring five straight points thanks to a kill from Anna Elkin and Levyn Snow. Elkin had two more late kills, but it wasn't enough as the Cougars won 25-22.
The Lancers responded with fury. Two kills from Leah Henderson sparked a 5-0 run for Grace in the beginning stages of the second set.
The Cougars responded to make the score 11-10, but the rest of the set belonged to Grace. The Lancers ended the set on a 14-5 charge, winning 25-15 to even the match.
Another 5-0 spurt from Grace in the third set gave the visitors an early edge. The Lancers continued to roll, speeding away for a 25-16 win to take control of the evening.
The Cougars countered with a seven-point win in the fourth set, setting up a dramatic finish.
SAU struck first in the fifth set, scoring the first two points. The Cougars led 5-3, but two errors tied the score.
Four points in a row from SAU gave the home team a 10-6 lead. But the Lancers slowly battled back, winning four of the next five points.
Grace still trailed by two as the Cougars served for the match at 14-12. But a kill from Abby Leffring was followed by a kill by Elkin, and Grace survived two match points.
The Lancers blew through both SAU timeouts down the stretch and finished off the comeback. Grace Bowers ended the match with an ace on the final serve, handing the Lancers a 16-14 win.
Grace's setters both produced double-doubles, including 24 assists and 17 digs from Carsyn Witt and 19 assists and 18 digs from Reese McCutchan.
Savannah Clawson and Elkin tied for match honors with 16 kills apiece. Leffring added seven kills, and Callie Jo Celichowski added 4 kills, 3 solo blocks and 2 block assists.
Reagan Owens tallied 17 digs, and Olivia Martinez added seven digs.
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