Grace College Athletics

FORT WAYNE, Ind. - Grace College's volleyball team continued its torrid stretch of play on Friday.

The Lancers won twice at the Liz Lykowski Memorial Tournament, including a takedown of No. 22 IU Kokomo along with a win over St. Ambrose.

Grace battled behind twice, dropping the opening set each time but recovering to win each match in four sets.

Grace (12-2) has now won nine consecutive matches. 

The first set of the afternoon was a battle of endurance. IU Kokomo started fast, scoring the first three points of the match before a kill from Molly Hofmann put the Lancers on the board.

The Cougars led 7-6 and appeared to take a two-point advantage before a challenge from Grace head coach Katie Hill reversed to point in the Lancers' favor. Grace then rattled off four consecutive points thanks to kills from Anna Elkin, Abby Leffring and Levyn Snow.

Things stayed neck-and-neck through the middle of the set until IUK surged late to jump ahead 23-20. Grace answered back with three of its own to tie the score at 23.

The teams battled back and forth deep into extra points as they jostled for the set win. Grace had four set point chances, but the Cougars were resilient and claimed the set 31-29.

Set two saw the game continue to be a near deadlock. Grace scored first but a single point was the widest margin either side enjoyed in the early portions.

The Lancers finally gained separation when they scored five unanswered points to go ahead 12-7. Savannah Clawson had the final two kills of the run for Grace.

Clawson continued to assert her will in the set, sending down three more kills to help the Lancers to a 20-12 lead.

Leffering sealed the set victory 25-19 for Grace with a kill that came off an assist from Carsyn Witt.

Grace overwhelmed IUK in set three to cruise to a convincing victory. 

The start of the set was competitive, with Grace holding a narrow 9-8 advantage. Matters quickly turned in Grace's favor though as the Lancers outscored the Cougars 16-4 to end the set with a 25-12 win. The Lancers hit at an impressive .345 in the set.

The Lancers had four service aces including two from Grace Bowers. Elkin, Clawson and Snow all had multiple kills to push Grace to the set win.

In the set four Grace led wire-to-wire. Leffering scored the first point of the set, and the Lancers never looked back.

The Lancers held a convincing 22-15 lead but the 22nd-ranked Cougars mustered one last rally.

IUK scored five points to pull within two. After a timeout, the Lancers then scored three of the next four points to take the set 25-21 and the match 3-1.

Grace hit at a .267 percentage for the game while collecting eight blocks. The Lancers were also impressive from the service line as they had 10 aces, four of which came from Olivia Martinez.

Elkin led all players with 16 kills while Reese McCutchan (29 assists) and Witt (25 assists) helped direct the offense. Reagan Owens had 20 digs, and Celichowski had five blocks.

The second match saw Grace produce another come-from-behind victory. The Lancers' offense was sluggish out of the gate, hitting just eight kills in the opening set as Grace lost 25-17.

But the Lancers' attack was dynamic over the next three sets. Late in the second set, Grace used a 9-1 run to take control, holding on late for a 25-20 win to even up the match.

In the third set, Grace broke open a deadlock thanks to four unanswered points. Snow had two kills, Elkin had another, and Owens ended the spurt with an ace. The teams traded points down the stretch, and Callie Jo Celichowski capped off Grace's 25-20 victory with a kill.

The fourth set saw Grace surge in front early with a 7-0 charge. Snow and Elkin led the attack with two kills apiece.

SAU recovered and managed to tie the set at 18s. But Celichowski and Elkin took over to end the set, combining for five late kills to ice the victory as Grace won 25-22.

Elkin amassed 15 kills on a .407 percentage, Elkin had 14 kills on a .267 clip, and Celichowski added eight kills and three block assists.

Owens tallied another 20-dig performance, Martinez had 16 digs, Brea Harris added seven digs, and McCutchan (26 assists) and Witt (17) propelled the attack.

Grace will end the tournament on Saturday with a pair of matches in the morning against Grand View and St. Francis (Ill.).