GRINNELL, Iowa - Despite coming out on the losing end of the scoreboard Friday, the Grinnell College volleyball team put together a superb effort in a pair of matches at Darby Gymnasium.

Grinnell split the first two sets with Hamline University before falling in four sets, and then battled Buena Vista University to the wire in a five-set thriller.

In the match with Buena Vista, a team picked to finish third in the highly-competitive Iowa Conference, Grinnell won the first set 25-17 before losing the second 25-18. Grinnell took the third 25-22 and the Beavers the fourth 25-20.

Buena Vista then won the deciding set 15-5.

Olivia Fromm '17 had 13 kills and 22 digs in the match for Grinnell, while Emma Willhardt '19 added 10 kills and hit .308. Margaret Giles '18 added 30 assists and 12 digs, Sydney Vrecenar '18 tallied 26 digs and Evelyn Weidman '17 served up two aces.

Grinnell benefitted from a fast start in the first set, scoring the first seven points on Fromm's serve. Buena Vista got as close as three before the Pioneers used a run sparked by Giles' serve to pull away.

The second set was tight early before Buena Vista pulled away, and the third set was close nearly the entire way. Trailing 8-6, the Pioneers took the lead for good thanks to Weidman's four-point service run.

Buena Vista led from the halfway point on in the fourth set and raced out to an 8-0 lead in the fifth en route to victory.

Earlier, Hamline outlasted Grinnell 25-19, 21-25, 25-16 and 25-17. Emily Friedman '19 had nine kills for Grinnell, Giles added 23 assists and 16 digs and Ariel Lepito '17 came up with three block assists.

Vrecenar, Fromm and Deanna Taylor '18 had 15, 12 and 11 digs, respectively.

Hamline had just an 18-17 lead in the opener before going on a key five-point run to pull away for the win.

The second set was tied 16-all when the Pioneers rattled off three consecutive points, two coming on Christine Hood's '17 serve. It was later a 21-20 Grinnell lead when Lepito had a kill and Fromm served up an ace for a three-point lead.

After Hamline scored, Willhardt and Lepito finished off the set with kills.

Hamline broke away halfway through the third set for the win and did the same in the fourth.