The Our Lady of the Lake University (OLLU) women'svolleyball team managed to come from a two games to one deficit to steal a victory away from the Lady Celts of the University of St. Thomas, winning the match three games to two Saturday at Mabee Gymnasium.

The win avenged the Saints loss to the Lady Celts in last year's Association of Independent Institutions (A.I.I.) Conference postseason tournament.

Game one was a back-and-forth slugfest with both teams notching impressive kills as the teams took turns holding the lead. A key kill by junior middle blocker Kelsey Johnson allowed the Saints 15-14 lead. After surrendering the lead, the Saints once again tied the game when sophomore right-side hitter Liza Rodriguez and Johnson combined for a block to tie the score at 19. From there, both teams traded points before the Lady Celts pulled away and won the opening game 25-23.

Game two began with a powerful kill by Rodriguez as the Saints looked to send a message and crawl back into the match. Other points by senior middle blocker Melanie Valenciana and freshman middle hitter Jasmine Price led to a 7-4 Saints lead.

After a stubborn defensive series by the Saints, the Saints found themselves up 9-6. Sophomore setter Elyse Escobar's ensuing serve proved too difficult for the Lady Celts to handle, giving the Saints a 10-6 lead. Later in the game, Valenciana found her way through the defense to score and Johnson flashed her precision by placing the ball in the back right corner of the Celt defense to put the Saints up to a 16-10 lead. After the Celts battled back to cut the lead to 19-16, Escobar, Valenciana and Price combined for five for the final six points to take the game 25-23.

With both teams holding one game in the best-of-five match, game three proved to be a see-saw affair. The game saw seven ties as the teams took turns giving each other their best shots.

Although the Saints showed their stubbornness, St. Thomas pulled away from a late 22-22 tie to win the game 25-23, and take a two games to one lead in the match. With their backs against the wall, Johnson's early serves proved too much for the Celt defense. The Saints took an early 7-5 lead. The Saints then traded points throughout the middle of the game before two kills by Price and an ace by Escobar forced game point 24-19. Even though the Lady Celts battled back with three straight points, Rodriguez finished a final kill to take the game and even the match at two games apiece.

With the match even, the Saints stepped up their defense in game five. Several key blocks by the Saints defense and two unforced errors by St. Thomas gave the Saints a commanding 6-0 lead. The Celts tried to force their way back into the game, but kills by Johnson and Price stifled any come-back attempt. Key blocks from senior middle blocker Robyn Bush also helped the Saints take an 11-3 lead. Again, the Celts tried to battle back and forced their way to cut the lead to 13-7, forcing the Saints to take a time-out. Out of the time-out, Bush placed the ball just over the Celt defense to force match point 14-7. The Saints defense finished off the match as it forced the Celt offense to send their last rally attempt into the net to make the score 15-7, ending the game and match in favor of the Saints.

The win improved the Saints record on the young season to 2-1, and pleased head volleyball coach Mark Lee."Today, we played the best ball I've seen them play to this point," said Lee. "We showed a lot of mental toughness. We adjusted well to what they were doing out there. It's nice to see us come out with a win."

Escobar finished the game with three aces, 27 assists and 11 digs. Johnson finished the game with one ace, two blocks, 18 digs and seven kills. Price finished with eight blocks and 11 kills. Junior defensive specialist Sarah Lindsay finished with 25 digs.