BOURBONNAIS, Ill. - Grace's volleyball team split the final day of its season-opening tournament on Saturday.
The Lancers (3-1) lost to the hosts Olivet Nazarene in the morning but bounced back to sweep Rochester Christian in their tournament finale.
During Saturday's opener, the Lancers had more kills, more assists, more digs and more blocks than their opponent. But Olivet Nazarene came out ahead on the scoreboard each time, winning in three sets.
The first two sets each went to extra points. Grace gave up the first four points of the opening set but recovered to take a 12-10 lead.
The Tigers edged in front in the later portions of the set and eventually served with a 24-20 advantage.
Grace showed resolve, rallying with four straight points to force extra sets. Leah Henderson had a timely kill, and Abby Leffring added a block.
The Lancers even took leads at 26-25 and 27-26, but the Tigers managed to escape with three points in a row to win 29-27.
The second set was similar. Grace trailed early but recovered to lead in the middle of the set.
ONU used three straight points to erase Grace's lead and ended the set with back-to-back blocks to win 26-24.
Midway into the third set, Grace gave up five unanswered points. The Lancers struggled to recover and eventually lost by eight to end the match.
Grace was hurt by committing 26 attack errors and was held to a .105 hitting percentage as a team. The Lancers also gave up nine aces.
Leffring notched 8 kills, 2 solo blocks and 2 block assists, and Reagan Owens tallied 11 digs.
In the finale, Grace took care of Rochester Christian in three sets. Leah Henderson helped Grace to an early lead in the first set with a trio of quick kills.
An ace and a kill from Anna Elkin pushed the Lancers to a five-point edge in the closing stages. Grace held that margin and won the opener 25-20.
The second set saw Grace rattle off five unanswered points to force an early timeout from the Warriors.
The timeout did little to slow down Grace as the Lancers raced away to a 25-10 victory.
Grace used another 5-0 run early in the third set to gain separation. Grace's offense sizzled throughout the set as the Lancers cruised to a 10-point win to polish off the sweep.
The Lancers amassed 43 kills on a .317 percentage while holding RCU to 27 kills.
Savannah Clawson (10 kills) led the attack, followed by Elkin (6 kills) along with five kills each from Molly Hofmann and Henderson.
The setting duties were divided between Emily Uhlmann (13 assists, 3 kills), Carsyn Witt (10 assists, 6 digs) and Reese McCutchan (9 assists, 5 digs).
The Lancers have four more matches next weekend with the Onset Invitational in Fort Wayne. Grace will play No. 17 Aquinas and Lawrence Tech on Friday along with Southeastern and Brescia on Saturday.
