ERIE, Pa. – After a pair of tight losses in the opening sets, the IUP women's volleyball team rallied with three straight wins to take down Mercyhurst in five sets Saturday afternoon.
 
The Lakers won the first two sets by scores of 25-23 and 26-24, but the Crimson Hawks ended their weekend with wins of 25-23, 25-14 and 15-11.
 
IUP improved to 10-9 overall and picked up its first divisional win to move to 1-4.
 
Three Crimson Hawks totaled 14.5 points apiece Saturday, including middles Kylie Osborn and Caroline Walsh, and outside Nicole Peterson. Walsh had 12 kills, hitting .455, and added five block assists. Peterson also had 12 kills and tallied a double-double with 10 digs. Osborn hit .471 with nine kills, had two aces and six total blocks.
 
Gia Cannavino and Brooke Little added nine and eight kills, respectively.
 
The turning point in the match came in the third set with Mercyhust seeking a sweep. With both teams trading leads, the Lakers (4-11, 1-5) scored four straight to go up 21-20. The Hawks responded with three straight points and later held a 24-23 lead when Cannavino ended it with a kill.
 
IUP then outhit the Lakers .324 to .024 in the fourth set to tie the match, and then after falling behind 6-4 in the fifth, scored seven straight points which led to the clinching victory.
 
Setter Leah Henderson also tallied a double-double with 34 assists and 13 digs. Libero Bailey Flowerdew had a season-high 29 digs.
 
Up next
IUP returns home next weekend for matches against Slippery Rock on Friday and Cal U on Saturday.
 
Follow
For up-to-date information, visit IUPAthletics.com and follow IUP women's volleyball on Twitter @IUPCrimsonHawk and @IUPVB.