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GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. - Davenport entered Wednesday night's match with Aquinas looking to extend a program best 6-match winning streak but timely errors and sloppy play led to a 5-set loss to the Saints.  Davenport won sets two and four but fell by the slimmest of margins in each of the other three to fall to 15-8 on the year and 3-2 in league play.

Kassie Graves led the offensive attack with 13 kills while Nicole Chase chipped in with 10 as the Panthers battled to the very end only to come up two points short in each of their three set losses.  DU posted a .146 hitting percentage compared to the Saints .124 in a match that was won by the fewer errors made.

Sets one and three that were won by Aquinas were almost identical as Davenport jumped out to quick leads in each only to faulter in the middle points and the Panthers found themselves down big late only to recover to make things interesting.  AQ took leads of 24-20 in both sets only to see the Panthers get within one at 24-23 but the Saints pulled both out.

Sets two and four, of which the Panthers won, were also very similar with Davenport taking control early and leading for the majority of the sets.  DU won by the widest of margins in the fourth when they posted a 25-20 win.DU held their largest lead at 20-13.

The fifth set was again controlled by DU early as they posted an 8-6 lead at the side switch on an AQ service error.  After the Saints rallied with three consecutive points for a 9-8 lead, DU got a big kill from Nicole Chase after an AQ hitting error to take the lead back 10-9.  The host Saints then ran off four consecutive points for a 13-10 lead in which they would never relinquish closing out DU 15-13.

Post-Match Quotes - Head Coach Megan Garner

On the tough 5-set loss - "It never feels good to lose to a rival, but I cannot overlook the outstanding effort my players gave tonight.  I was especially proud to see some of my freshmen really rise to the challenge.  We went down swinging and the lessons we learned tonight will hopefully pay off down the stretch.  A few points here or there and the outcome would have been totally different.  We are learning just how important every point is."

Post-Match Notes 

The loss ends Davenport's 6-match winning streak which is the longest in the 6 year history of the program...Davenport is now 2-9 all-time against the Saints and have lost the last four that have gone the maximum five sets...DU will take on some of the top teams in the country this weekend at Olivet Nazarene where they will meet Oklahoma City, Olivet Nazarene, Wayland Baptist and #RV Grand View

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