ELMHURST, Ill. - The Elmhurst volleyball team rallied from a two-set deficit, but came up short in a five-set loss to the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse at the Elmhurst Invitational.

La Crosse (2-1) held on to defeat Elmhurst (2-1) 25-23, 25-18, 20-25, 24-26, 15-12 in a match that lasted just shy of two hours.

The first set was back-and-forth and even at 18-18 before a 3-0 run from Elmhurst gave the Bluejays a 21-18 cushion. La Crosse battled back to surge in front at 23-22, but an Elmhurst kill from Mary Lawrence evened the score at 23-23. A kill from Jill Entinger and an attack error on the Bluejays gave the Eagles the first set 25-23. 

La Crosse stormed out to a quick 8-3 lead in the second and never looked back, leading by as many as eight points before taking the second set at 25-18. 

Elmhurst broke an 8-8 tie in the third set with a 12-5 run to build a 20-13 lead before pulling away for the 25-20 victory. La Crosse started strong in the fourt, opening up an 18-13 advantage, but the Bluejays responded with an 8-1 run to grab a 21-19 lead. La Crosse pulled even at 23-all and fought off an Elmhurst set point at 24-23, but a kill from Hannah Davis and an Eagles' error gave the Bluejays the fourth set at 28-26. 

Elmhurst built an early 9-6 lead in the fifth set, but four straight points from La Crosse gave the Eagles a one-point cushion. With the score tied at 11, the Eagles won the next two points to take a 13-11 lead. Elmhurst closed to within a point at 13-12 but back-to-back kills from Ashley Entinger gave La Crosse the set and the match. 

Elmhurst finished the contest hitting .206 for the the match with 62 kills and 28 errors in 165 swings. Hannah Nimrick paced the Bluejays in the loss with a triple-double, finishing with 10 kills, 11 digs and 46 assists. Lawrence added 16 kills and seven blocks while Melissa Nava totaled 12 kills and three blocks. Alli Rogers added nine kills and Davis finished with eight. Amy Schryver led the squad in digs with 21. 

Ashley Entinger paced La Crosse in the win with 17 kills while Stephanie Henk finished with 15. Jill Entinger added 13 kills while Maddie Entinger totaled 53 assists and eight digs. 

Elmhurst wraps up the tournament by facing Bluffton college later in the day.