Winona Lake, Ind. – In need of a bounce back win, the No. 3-ranked Marian volleyball team got just that on Friday, taking down Grace at the Manahan Orthopaedic Capital Center. The Knights moved to 5-1 in Crossroads League play and 13-1 overall after defeating the Lancers 3-1 (25-17, 25-16, 25-21), and extended the win streak over Grace to 11.
Grace was the first to strike in the opening set, scoring the first two points before an attack error and a kill by Logan Smith made things even at 2-2. The two teams traded points back and forth in the early going until a kill by Averi Lanman shifted the momentum to the Knights, as the they went on to score the next four points to give Marian the 11-5 advantage. A Lancer kill spoiled the run, but a kill by Skyler Van Note got things rolling again for the Knights and pushed an 8-3 run to push the visitors in front by 10. Marian rolled through the remainder of the set, holding the host to seven more points and winning the set 25-17 on a Madison Brooks kill.
Similar to the first set, both teams rallied for the first few points until Grace took the 2-6 lead. The duo of Smith and Lanman teamed up for a block to propel Marian to a 5-0 run before a Lancer kill stopped the run. The hosts came to within one after a couple attack errors and a Lancer kill, but Brooks, Avery Toole and Jaymison Summers helped Marian answer back with three kills to increase their lead to 14-10. Grace tried to respond, but the Knights were too much to handle the remainder of the set, as the Lancers were only able to score 16 points and were forced 10 errors in the set.
Marian struggled to find their groove to start the third set as Grace got out to an early 1-9 lead to force a Marian timeout. Van Note and an error by the host gave the Knights two points, but Grace responded again with a kill. Down 3-10, the Knights found some energy and tied things up 11-11 after going on an 8-1 run fueled by three Marian kills and a service ace by Van Note. Both teams continued to battle the rest of the set with neither team being able to gain much of a lead. With the score even at 20-20, Marian found a way to close out the set 25-21 behind two kills in a row by Brooks to seal the deal.
Van Note led the Knights with 15 kills, as she hit .250, had 14 digs and two aces in the win. Brooks added nine kills, hitting .500 while Toole had six. Lanman had a team-high seven blocks while also adding three kills. Katie Hardegree hit a milestone in the win as she led the team with 19 assists to surpass 1,000 career assists. Smith dished out 13 assists with Gianna Feld leading the defense with 22 digs.
The Knights will be back at home tomorrow at 3 PM as they host Saint Francis for senior day inside MU Arena.
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