Box Score 1 | Box Score 2 GRINNELL, Iowa – The Grinnell College volleyball team gave William Penn University all it could handle before falling in four sets Friday night during the Grinnell Invitational at Darby Gymnasium.

After William Penn captured the first two sets 25-15 and 25-21, the hosts roared back to take the third 25-22. Grinnell nearly pulled out the fourth set, but eventually lost 25-23.

Olivia Fromm '17 pounded down 15 kills for the Pioneers, who fell to 0-16, while Claire Weidman '15 and Natalie Duncombe '15 had 11 apiece. Lindsay Fujimoto '15 had 26 assists and Jeanette Au '16 added 16 to go along with two ace serves.

Sydney McClendon '16 came up with 27 digs and Fujimoto added 11. Evelyn Weidman '17 tallied four blocks.

William Penn raced out to a 7-1 lead in the first set and cruised from there. The second set was tight the entire way, with Grinnell grabbing a 14-12 lead thanks to a three-point service run by Fujimoto that included an ace.

However, the visitors rattled off five consecutive points and never trailed after that.

The Pioneers erupted in the third set, scoring seven of the first eight points. Evelyn Weidman served three of those points and Monica Knaack '17 two. Claire Weidman had two kills during the early spurt.

But William Penn rallied, four times coming within a point. Leading just 17-16, the Pioneers put together a key five-point run with Claire Weidman serving four of those points and also putting down a pair of kills.

William Penn came back again, cutting the margin to 24-22 before Fromm delivered the game-winning kill.

Fujimoto served four points in a row to get Grinnell off to a 4-0 lead in the fourth set. The Pioneers later went up by six when Evelyn Weidman's serve put them ahead 8-2.

But William Penn came back, eventually tying the contest at 14-all and later taking a 16-14 lead. But Grinnell hung in there, forcing a 16-all tie on Claire Weidman's serve and 20-all deadlock with Fromm's kill.

After the visitors went ahead 23-21, Grinnell scored consecutive points on William Penn service errors to tie things at 23-apiece. However, the visitors were able to eke out the next two points to secure the victory.

Earlier in the night, Grinnell lost 25-21, 25-20 and 25-16 to Buena Vista University. Claire Weidman led Grinnell with 12 kills while hitting .357. Fujimoto had 14 assists, Christine Hood '17 came up with 14 digs and Duncombe and Liz Nelson '17 had three blocks apiece.

Grinnell had a strong start in the first set, going up 6-4 before the Beavers rattled off four straight points. The visitors never trailed after that.

After Buena Vista got off to a fast start in the second set, Grinnell rallied and grabbed a 10-9 lead on Claire Weidman's serve. There were six ties after that, the last at 18-all on Claire Weidman's kill. However, Buena Vista went on a four-point run en route to the victory.

The fourth set was tied 3-all before Buena Vista went on a 10-3 run to pull away.

In the night's other match, Buena Vista defeated William Penn in four sets to improve to 8-3 on the season. William Penn is 9-13.

The Pioneers are off until next Friday night when they open Midwest Conference play at Monmouth College. The match begins at 7:30 p.m.