The Misericordia University women's volleyball season came to a heartbreaking end with a five-set loss to Stevens in the MAC Freedom championship match, Saturday at the Anderson Center.
 
The Cougars won the first and third sets, but Stevens rallied to win two straight, including the fifth set, 15-13.
 
MU finished 22-10.
 
Meghan Peters led the Cougars with 18 kills while Kiera McCaffrey added 15 and Cassandra Genduso had 11.
 
Jenna Schuda had 46 assists and 12 digs and Maggie Duda had 14 digs.
 
The Cougars fell behind early in the opening set, but rallied from a 9-4 deficit to get within 15-14 on kills by McCaffrey and Peters and an ace from Sarah Journey.
 
Genduso's cross-court smash from the right side capped a 3-0 run to give MU its first lead, 22-21.
 
McCaffrey followed with a kill in the back left corner and teamed with Jennifer Nicometo for a block on the left side to set up set-point 24-22.
 
After a Stevens kill, McCaffrey's smash down the middle clinched a 25-23 win.
 
MU rallied from an early hole again in the second set and eventually pulled with 21-20 lead on Nicometo's kill down the middle.  Stevens closed with three straight points to win, 25-21.
 
The Cougars built the early lead in the third set as Duda's ace capped a 4-0 run to take a 14-7 lead.
 
McCaffrey's attack down the middle deflected off two defenders and Peters and Nicometo both followed with kills through potential blockers to make it 17-8.
 
Stevens battled back to within 24-20, but Genduso's perfectly-placed attack inside the right sideline finished a 25-20 win.
 
The Ducks took a quick lead in the fourth set and cruised to a 25-14 win to force the decisive set.
 
Two kills by Schuda surrounded an ace by McCaffrey as the Cougars took a 7-5 lead in the finale.
 
Stevens rallied to take 10-9 lead, but Nicometo answered with a smash down the left sideline to tie the score, 10-10.
 
The Ducks scored four straight points to set up match-point. 
 
Genduso's cross-court kill kept the Cougars alive and McCaffrey had two straight kills to get within 14-13.
 
Stevens responded with a kill to clinch its sixth straight league title.