PELLA, Iowa – The MSOE women's volleyball nearly avenged a three-set loss to Central at the MSOE Invitational, pushing the host Dutch to five sets before falling 25-16, 22-25, 14-25, 27-25, 15-7 in the final game of the IIAC/NACC Crossover Saturday afternoon at Kuyper Gym.

The Raiders (8-11) closed out its own tourney with the loss to Central and nearly had the Dutch beat in four before the home team came back for the five-set win.

MSOE opened the day with a four-set loss to Buena Vista, 25-14, 24-26, 25-16, 25-15.

Against Central, several players put together strong matches and the team hit .200 in a match for the fourth time this season.

Junior Hannah Pekarek led the way with 18 kills on .333 attacking and 15 digs. Senior Rachel Lynde had 15 kills while senior Abby Born split time at setter and tallied 29 assists, 17 kills, and seven kills. Sophomore Allie Laurent had 18 assists and 19 digs.

Senior Aleah Quast had 20 digs and junior Heather Dukat, who also had three aces, chipped in 11 more for the defense. Senior Holly Denfeld had a team-high five blocks.

After dropping the opening set, the Raiders bounced back to take the second and third frames for a 2-1 lead in the match. In the fourth game, the Dutch rattled off a 7-2 run to overcome MSOE's 15-13 lead and turn it into a 20-15 deficit. The Red & White worked its way back to tie the score at 24-24. It would fend off three set points, but could not get over the hump for match point of its own.

Central then rode the momentum to take the final set, scoring the first five points and the final four of the frame.

The Raiders opened the day against BVU, with Pekarek notching 11 kills and 16 digs. Lynde also reached double-figures in kills in the match with 10, adding 12 digs for another double-double, as well as three aces.

MSOE is now off until returning to the heart of its NACC schedule next Friday at Alverno.