MOUNT VERNON, Iowa – Anyone wanting to know how the heart and desire of this season's Grinnell College volleyball team need only watch Friday night's Midwest Conference Tournament semifinal match.
 
The Pioneers, who were swept by regular-season champ and top seed Cornell College during the regular season, rolled to victories over the Rams in the first two sets before losing a five-set thriller in front of a packed house.
 
Grinnell showed itself able to stay with a team receiving votes for the national rankings while concluding its season at 16-9, the most wins for the program since the 2002 campaign. Cornell advances to the MWC Tournament title match against St. Norbert College with a 24-7 mark.
 
Just how tight was the match? Just seven points separated the teams over the two-plus hour marathon, with Grinnell winning consecutive 25-23 decisions, Cornell winning 25-23 and 25-18 and then 15-13 in the decisive fifth set.
 
By winning the first set, Grinnell handed the Rams their first home set loss to a MWC team this season and broke a 20-set losing streak to Cornell dating back to 2011.
 
Kaylin Kuhn '21, named the MWC Newcomer of the Year prior to the match, hit a whopping .318 with 19 kills plus a team-best 18 digs. Olivia Jensen '21 added 12 kills, while Margaret Giles '18 finished a stellar career with 40 assists and 10 digs.
 
Deanna Taylor '18 tallied 16 digs and Sydney Vrecenar '18 had 10. Vrecenar also had three aces and Emma Willhardt '19 four blocks.
 
Kuhn led off the match with a kill and the Pioneers never trailed in the first set. They went ahead by six points twice, once at 14-8 on Kuhn's kill and again at 15-9 on another kill by Kuhn.
 
Cornell crept back and made it close, but Jensen recorded a kill, Cornell had an attack error and Willhardt provided a kill for a 24-20 Grinnell edge. After Cornell came within 24-23, a Ram service error gave Grinnell the win.
 
The Rams controlled most of the second set and looked poised to win with a 23-19 lead, but the Pioneers would have none of it. A setting error and hitting error by Cornell reduced the gap to two, and Kuhn pounded down two kills and Jensen another to put Grinnell up 24-23. A hitting error by Cornell brought Grinnell within one set of the match win.
 
The third set was tight the entire way, with Grinnell grabbing a 20-19 lead on Jensen's kill. However, Cornell went on a four-point run for a 23-20 lead. Grinnell came back, though, and made it 23-22 and later 24-23 on Kuhn's kill. However, Cornell recorded a block to send it into a fourth set.
 
Grinnell was within 15-14 in the next set before the Rams went on a four-point run as they pulled away for the win.
 
That brought the exciting thriller to its climactic fifth set. Cornell got out quickly to a 5-1 lead before the Pioneers gradually rallied, eventually tying things at 9-all on Jensen's kill.
 
The teams traded points after that, as Grinnell tied it at 10-all on a Ram serving error, 11-all on Kuhn's kill and 12-12 on another kill by Kuhn.
 
Cornell then scored two points before Kuhn's kill made it 14-13. However, the Rams got a kill of their own to secure the win.
 
Several Pioneers etched their names into the record books this year. Jensen's hitting efficiency of .321 ranks fourth in Pioneer history, while Taylor's 445 digs are fifth and Giles' 830 assists ninth.
 
Giles finished her career with 2,693 assists, fourth-best in program history, while Vrecenar's 97 ace serves are tied for 10th-best.