Volleyball won a thriller in comeback fashion Tuesday night.
The Ravens defeated the Peru State College Bobcats, 3-2, after trailing by 9-points in the fifth set.
In the deciding fifth set, Peru State raced out to an 8-2 lead when the teams switched sides of the court. The Bobcats added to their lead to go up 12-3 and seemed to have control of the match, but the Ravens dug deep and found a way to fight back.
JoJo Vander Woude started the comeback with a kill, followed by a Lainee Mustain ace and another kill by Vander Woude. After three Bobcats attack errors, Mustain recorded another ace. Barbara Terra's block pulled the Ravens within 1 point, then Mustain scored a third ace to level the set at 12-12.
After an attack from Terra went just wide to put the Bobcats back up, 13-12, the Ravens ripped off 3-points in a row thanks to blocks by Terra and Wren VanCleave, then a final kill by Terra to secure the 15-13 set win and 3-2 match win.
Terra and Lucy Drexel each had 16 kills for the Ravens while Vander Woude recorded 9, Bridget O'Sullivan had 8, and Rayleen Gladden had 7 kills. VanCleave had 45 assists and 4 blocks.
The Ravens got off to a great start in the match, taking a 14-4 lead in the opening set. However, the Bobcats slowly chipped away at the Ravens lead and got to within 4 points late in the set. The Ravens were able to close things out with a kill by Vander Woude. O'Sullivan had 4 kills in the first set to pace the Ravens attack.
The Bobcats tied the match in the second set with a 25-16 win. Peru State took an early lead and didn't allow the Ravens a chance to get back in, winning by 9 points to level the match at 1-1.
The third set was much like the second as the Bobcats won by an identical 25-16 score to move in front 2-1 in the match.
Peru State out-hit the Ravens .300 to .152 in the third set as the Ravens attack struggles continued – the Ravens hit just .067 in the second set.
The Ravens bounced back in the fourth set. Unlike the prior two sets, the Ravens played from in front, taking a 16-10 lead to force a Bobcats timeout. That didn't slow down the Ravens momentum, though, as the home team won 25-17 to force a fifth and final set.
Terra had 7 kills and Drexel added 6 as the Ravens recorded a .311 attack percentage.
The fourth-set win paved the way for the incredible comeback by the Ravens in the fifth set.
The Ravens sweep the season series against the Bobcats after winning at Peru State on Sept. 6. The first win at Peru has been an inflection point in the season for the Ravens; they started the season 1-5 but are 8-2 since that date, including four-straight wins after Tuesday night's result.
Next up for the Ravens (9-7, 5-2 Heart) is a weekend road trip to Iowa as they'll play Friday, Oct. 3 at William Penn and Saturday, Oct. 4 at Grand View.