GRINNELL, Iowa – The goal was a school and Midwest Conference record for volleyball attendance, and that was easily achieved!
 
The Grinnell College and Cornell College volleyball teams played in front of 942 fans Wednesday night at Darby Gymnasium, breaking the previous school record for attendance by more than 400 and snapping the conference record by almost 200.
 
The record made the Pioneers the latest team to capitalize on the explosion of interest in volleyball around the nation.
 
The crowd wasn't quite enough to push Grinnell over the top, though, as the Pioneers dropped a 25-17, 25-19, 25-17 decision to the league champion Rams.
 
The Pioneers, who fell to 5-3 in league play and 12-14 overall, will have to wait until Saturday to see if they qualify for the MWC Tournament. Cornell finished its MWC slate at 8-0 while improving to 16-10 overall.
 
Millie Leonard '27 kept up her electric hitting performance for Grinnell, tallying 11 kills and a .391 hitting efficiency. Keira Sullivan '27 added seven kills and Kylie-Ann Smith '27 dished out 23 assists. Kylie Snell '26 had three blocks and Gracie Lim '28 led the charge in digs with 15.
 
The Rams shot out to an early lead in the first set and never looked back. Grinnell was unfazed, though, grabbing a 3-0 lead in the second set on a Ram service error, Cornell attack error and Leonard's kill.
 
The Pioneers built two more three-point leads, the last at 6-3 on Hayley Taka's '26 block and kill by Leonard. Grinnell later went ahead 8-6 on Marlowe Hurst's '28 ace, but the Rams answered with a run to go ahead 12-9.
 
Grinnell later got within 14-12, but Cornell came back with a five-point spurt for a 19-12 edge. After Cornell reached set point at 24-14, the Pioneers put together a five-point run that included kills by Leticia Machado '29 and Snell as well as a block from Snell, to make it 24-19. However, a Ram kill ended the set.
 
The Rams bolted out to a 6-0 lead in the third set. Grinnell managed to pull within five at 18-13 via a five-point run that included kills by Sullivan, Leonard and Nicole Mlynski '26 as well as a block by Mlynski and Leonard. But Cornell stopped the bleeding and cruised to victory.
 
Grinnell finishes the regular season with two matches Saturday at Augustana College, facing both the host school and Loras College.