HIRAM, Ohio - October 16, 2019 – Hiram women's volleyball dropped a five-set thriller to the Case Western Reserve University Spartans on Wednesday at Price Gymnasium.

The Terriers surged out to a huge, 10-3 lead to open the first set, scoring the first five points of the match on Emily Chrustic's serve. And after Case Western scored a pair to pull within five, Hiram went on another run, extending their lead out to 19-8.

But the Spartans responded with a run of their own, climbing back into the opening set with a 9-2 run to cut the Terriers' lead to four. Hiram scored three of the next four points to pull away, before finishing off the set with a kill by Melina Lee to take set one, 25-21.

The Terriers and Spartans went back-and-forth to open the second set, and stood knotted at 12-12 after a block by Brianna Lemon. Hiram scored the next three to force a Case Western timeout, but the Spartans came back to within one.

A 6-2 run brought the Terriers' lead out to five, 22-17, but the Spartans came all the way back to tie the match at 23. From there, the two sides trade the advantage, with neither team able to finish off match point.

The Terriers held off the Spartans' match point a total of five times, but the sixth proved to be two much, as a pair of kills gave the Spartans a 30-28 second set victory.

And in the third set, it was the Spartans that raced out to an early lead, opening with a 6-0 run to force a Hiram timeout. Case Western led by as many as seven, before kills from Kayla Cole and Lindsey Walker cut the lead to four.

But Case Western finished off the set scoring 10 of the final 12 points to take a 2-1 lead with a 25-13 set victory.

Hiram though, responded in the fourth set to force a decisive fifth set. After the Spartans took an early 3-1, the Terriers used a 5-0 run to take a 6-3 lead and never trailed the rest of the way.

Case Western came back to tie the score at 17, and then again at 18, 19 and 20, but Hiram scored the final six points of the set all on Chrustic's serve to even the match at two games apiece.

However, after the Terriers to a 3-0 lead in the fifth set, the Spartans answered with a 11-2 run to pull away. The Terriers slowly chipped away at the deficit before four-straight serves by Mackenzie Brannon brought Hiram to within one. But a pair of attack errors gave the Spartans a 15-13 set win and a 3-2 match victory.

With the loss, Hiram falls to 12-11, while Case Western Reserve moves to 7-13 with the victory.

Walker recorded her third triple-double of the year with 18 kills, 21 assists and 14 digs, while Cole added a double-double with 14 kills and 15 digs. Chrustic led the Terriers with a team-high 31 assists, while Brannon notched a team-high 31 digs to lead Hiram defensively.

Lindsey Stahl (20) and Chrustic (11) also tallied double-digit digs for the Terriers.

Hiram will be back in action when they resume NCAC conference play on Saturday, Oct. 19 against the Kenyon College Ladies at 1:00 p.m. at Price Gymnasium.