The Misericordia University volleyball team split a home tri-match today, defeating Arcadia in five sets before falling to Messiah in the Cougars' second contest of the day.

MU nearly swept Arcadia but ended up going the distance, ultimately prevailing 3-2 (25-22, 25-20, 22-25, 18-25, 15-10).

Sophomore captain Cailin McCullion had 19 kills and 23 digs in the victory, while Shannon Kane had a team-high 26 digs. Junior Kristin Hoffman turned in a great all-around performance with nine kills, 23 assists and 25 digs.

Setter Meghan Hotaling had 18 assists and 15 digs while Lexie Goble (eight kills, four aces, three total blocks), Molly Harleman (seven kills, 10 digs) and Kat LaBrie (team-high four blocks) all contributed as well.

The Knights had jumped out to a 7-1 lead in the opening game before MU rallied with a five-point run after calling timeout. Misericordia took its first lead at 9-8 on a Goble service ace and later stretched that advantage to 20-15 on LaBrie's solo block.

The Cougars made it easier on themselves in game two, going on an 8-0 run to take an early 8-2 lead. Arcadia crept back into the game, pulling to within one at 19-18 before two aces from Goble and kills from LaBrie and McCullion closed out the set.

When Harleman's kill put Misericordia up 22-20 in the third game, it appeared that the Cougars might cruise to a fourth-consecutive sweep. But the Knights grabbed the last five points of the game, and then ran away with game four, forcing a tie-breaking fifth set.

This time, the Cougars rebounded in a big way- going on another eight-point run with Hoffman serving to open up an 11-2 advantage. McCullion's kill made it 12-5 and Krystal Burford grabbed the final kill at 15-10 to clinch the victory.

The Cougars' perfect 4-0 start to the year finally ended in a hard-fought loss to Messiah by a score of 3-0 (25-21, 25-20, 25-17).

Hotaling had 11 assists in the match, while Hoffman added 9 assists. McCullion had a team-high 11 kills and 14 digs with Kane also recording 14 digs.

Misericordia led late in the second game, taking a 17-15 lead on McCullion's kill. The Falcons rebounded with seven of the next eights points to pull away. MU also jumped out to a 5-2 advantage in game three before Messiah rallied.

The Cougars are now 4-1 on the season and begin their Freedom Conference campaign with a trip to Manhattanville on Wednesday.