UNIVERSITY HEIGHTS, Ohio – The Mount Union women's volleyball team dropped a five-set thriller (25-13, 25-14, 23-25, 18-25 and 13-15) to John Carroll Wednesday night at the DeCarlo Varsity Center.
 
The Purple Raiders (19-6, 5-3 OAC) were led by senior Maria Ellesin (Alliance / Marlington) with 17 kills. Sophomores Heaven Bartell (Cleveland / St. Joseph Academy) and Alexis Meyer (Avon Lake) had double-digit kills with 11 and 10 respectively.
 
Seniors Mollie Thomas (Massillon / Massillon Perry) and Katie May (Brecksville / Independence) had 24 and 22 assists.
 
Senior libero Alyssa Kasaris (North Royalton) and Bartell finished with a team high 22 digs while Thomas tied her career-high with 19 digs.
 
John Carroll (18-7, 5-3 OAC) was led by Cassi Calamunci who had 18 kills, Ally Bartolone had 28 assists and Lexi MacDonald finished with 25 digs.
 
In set one Mount Union had 11 kills with zero errors for a hitting percentage of .379 while John Carroll had 11 kills with nine errors with the Raiders taking the set 25-13.
 
Set two The Raiders kept the pressure on with 16 kills just five errors while John Carroll was even with seven kills and seven errors with Mount Union winning the set 25-14.
 
In the third set both teams were even with John Carroll just having one more kill 13 to 12 and both teams had seven errors as John Carroll won the set 25-23.
 
Mount Union hit well in the fourth set with 14 kills on just two errors but John Carroll had 17 kills on just three errors to take the set 25-18.
 
Set five saw Mount Union have nine kills with six errors while John Carroll just had two hitting errors with seven kills to win the set and match 15-13.
 
Mount Union returns home for the season finale and senior day match against Otterbein on Saturday at 1 p.m.