Seton Hill hosted Mercyhurst in a PSAC West match-up Friday night. The teams battled through five closely contested sets before the Lakers pulled out a 15-12 win in the fifth to come away with a 3-2 victory over the Griffins.

The opening set saw Mercyhurst score the first four points and build an 8-1 lead. Seton Hill came right back behind the serving of Carrie Leazer, who had a pair of aces in a 5-0 run to bring the Griffins back into the set. The score was tight throughout, but the Lakers were in position to win the set when they led 24-23 before Seton Hill rallied again. A kill by Paige Cole was followed by a block by Riley Rock and Katie Koziarz and then a Mercyhurst error gave the Griffins a 26-24 win and a 1-0 lead.

The second set opened with a 5-1 SHU run, sparked by a pair of kills from Cole. The teams exchanged runs through the set and the Griffins were primed to take it when a Cole kill and two Laker errors had Seton Hill in front 24-23. But this time, it was Mercyhurst who rallied, as they scored three straight to take the 26-24 win. In the third set, the teams battled back and forth and were tied at 18. The Griffins rolled off five points in a row, which included kills by Elizabeth Ward and Bobbi Rempe, to take a 23-18 advantage. The Lakers tried to come back and trimmed the lead to one, but a Rempe kill finished the 25-23 win for Seton Hill and a 2-1 lead heading into the fourth set.

In the fourth set, Mercyhurst built up a comfortable 22-16 lead, but the Griffins came charging back. Two kills by Rempe and one each by Elizabeth Ward and Rock brought Seton Hill within one at 24-23, but Mercyhurst finally put the set away with a kill for the 25-23 win to force a fifth set.

The teams went back and forth to start the final set and were tied 4-4. The Lakers scored five of the next six to build a 10-5 margin, but as the match went throughout the night, momentum swung back to the Griffins. Two kills by Ward started a 6-1 wun and when Cole put away a kill to complete it, the score was tied at 11-11. But the final run would belong to Mercyhurst, who scored four of the final five points to win the set and take the match.

Cole led the SHU attack with 18 kills and she tied Leazer for the team high with 17 digs. Leazer also added three aces in the match. Rock helped set up the attack with 19 assists and she also had nine kills, while Abby Osterling compiled 16 assists and nine digs. In addition to posting eight kills, Rempe had a good night at the net defensively with four blocks.

Seton Hill will be back on the court for another home match Saturday afternoon when they host Edinboro in a PSAC West tilt that is scheduled to start at 1 pm.