MARION, Ind. - Grace's volleyball team was unable to pull off the upset in the Crossroads League Tournament on Wednesday.
The Lancers lost 3-1 at No. 12 Indiana Wesleyan in the semifinals of the CL Tournament.
Grace's season is not over, however. The Lancers will await a hopeful bid to the 2026 NAIA National Championships. The tournament field will be announced on Monday evening.
Wednesday's semifinal defeat saw Grace's offense struggle to find its rhythm. The Lancers committed 29 attacking errors, hitting at a .087 percentage as a team.
To begin the match, Grace fell into an early hole as the Wildcats won eight of the first 10 points. A timeout helped Grace pull to within five.
IWU called timeout late in the set after Grace gathered late momentum. But the gap was too large for Grace to overcome as IWU claimed the opener 25-16.
Grace's offense was held to eight kills in the opener, while IWU had 14 kills in comparison.
The Lancers trailed again to start the second set as IWU opened up a 6-2 edge.
Kills from Anna Elkin, Abby Leffring and Olivia Martinez helped get the Lancers on track, but Grace was still forced to fight from behind the rest of the set. Grace never caught up and lost by eight.
Offensively, the Lancers had two more kills (10) than their opening set, but the Wildcats had their highest output of the match with 16 kills.
The third set was Grace's turn to take an early advantage. Grace scored four points in a row, including an ace from Elkin, to force a quick timeout by IWU.
The Wildcats responded with a six-point flurry, and the teams battled closely the rest of the way.
Grace opened up a three-point edge at 19-16 thanks to a pair of kills from Martinez, and Grace went on to lead 23-18.
IWU showed resolve with five points in a row to even up the score. After a Grace timeout, the Lancers settled and won the set (25-23) with a kill from Levyn Snow and an IWU error.
In the fourth set, Grace began with positive momentum. A 5-0 spurt forced a quick timeout from IWU, fueled by an ace from Reagan Owens and a block and kill from Leffring.
The Wildcats used their final timeout as Grace still owned a 12-9 lead. But IWU countered with a game-shifting 10-1 run, surging in front by six at 20-14.
Grace did its best to respond with two late kills from Molly Hofmann, but the Lancers were unable to climb back and fell 25-19.
Hofmann led Grace with nine kills and three block assists, Snow had seven kills, and Leffring tallied 6 kills, 1 solo block and 2 block assists.
Callie Jo Celichowski had six kills with four block assists, and Owens amassed 20 digs.
Carsyn Witt produced a double-double with 16 assists and 16 digs, and Elkin added 15 digs.
Â
