WENHAM, Mass. - Sophomore Claire Cansler turned in a career-high 19 kills to go with five blocks, but it wasn't enough as the Wheaton College volleyball team dropped a five-set (23-25, 25-22, 25-23, 21-25, 13-15) decision at Gordon College Tuesday evening at the Bennett Center. 

Cathryn MacGregor ended the night with nine kills and 15 digs. First-years Becca Houghton and McKenna Milholland led the team in assists with 31 and 14 respectively. 

The first set started out in Wheaton's favor as the Lyons put an 8-0 run together to take a 9-3 lead from the outset. However, Gordon clawed its way back to take a 12-10 advantage, beginning what would amount to a see saw battle for the remainder of the night.

Gordon built up as large as a four-point lead later in the set, but Wheaton battled to within a point at 24-23 before a Scotts kill sent them to a big first-set win.

The slinky match continued well into the second set with both teams going on small runs to take leads before the other rallied back to tie. When a Gordon kill made it 21-21, Wheaton used two kills by Nikita Selivan to start a 4-1 run to end the set.

Cansler was tough to stop in the third set, as the outside hitter tallied up five kills to no errors in the frame. Even with Wheaton hitting a match-best .167 in the set, Gordon was able to put scrappy points together to give the Lyons a run. Gordon never allowed themselves to fall behind by more than a few points and ultimately battled all the way back to take a 23-22 lead.

However, a pair of attacking miscues down the stretch allowed the Lyons to steal the third set 25-23.

The back-and-forth remained steady in the fourth set, but it was Wheaton who looked to be in the catbird seat as it approached the end. Trailing 19-18, Gordon took a timeout to regroup and looked like a fresh team coming out of the break. The Fighting Scots only allowed the Lyons two more points the rest of the set, going on a 7-2 run to force a winner-take-all fifth.

Wheaton won the initial sprint to seven points in the final set, but Gordon was undeterred. With Jesse Nason serving Gordon rallied off four straight points to take its first lead of the set.

The two teams traded points until the score hit 11 aside when another small Gordon run finally put the Scots in control. An ace for the Scots and a big stop on breakdown put Gordon up by three and only needing a point for victory.

Wheaton won two consecutive points to make it 14-13, but a final serve just nicked the top of the net and backwards to send the home team to a win.

The Lyons return to the court on Thursday, Sept. 15 at Salve Regina for a 7 p.m. start. 

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