TIFFIN -- Long points turned into long rallies, which turned into long sets, which turned into a long match -- two hours and nine minutes to be exact. 

The Heidelberg University volleyball team utilized the energy of a crowd of 486 inside Seiberling Gymnasium to outlast Baldwin Wallace University in a five-set thriller to move to 20-3 and 4-0 in conference play on the season. 

The Student Princes needed to battle to take the match by scores of 24-26, 26-24, 20-25, 25-20, 15-13. 

On the scoresheet, Taylor Valentine led all players with 19 kills on the night and even reached 20 digs defensively. Amy Feczer (11) and Olivia Crisitan (10) also eclipsed the double-digit kill mark. Anna McNabb and Julianna Peña nearly split setting duties as McNabb had 25 assists and Peña contributed 23. 

Defensively, Sarah Oney out dug everyone on the floor with 31 -- the second 30+ dig night of her season. Peyton Miller added 19 digs, which set a new personal best for the DS. Mya Morris had six blocks, while Feczer and Gudorf each had five putbacks. 

The early proceedings showed it would take a dynamic play to separate the sides, as the teams entered with nearly identical record. That play came with the score knotted at seven. 

A long rally ensued that looked to go in favor of BW, but a diving dig by Sarah Oney dropped in on the unsuspecting Yellow Jackets (18-4, 1-2) for the Berg point. From there though, the play remained evenly match. 

BW had a play of their own that reignited the set in their favor as they finished off a long rally with the score tied at 17. The play enabled the Yellow Jackets to keep Heidelberg at bay as they emerged with the first set win, 26-24. 

In the second set as much of the same transpired, Heidelberg carried a narrow edge at 14-13. A massive solo block from Mya Morris on a BW backrow attack, followed by a Valentine kill forced the Yellow Jackets into a timeout at 16-13. 

Out of that timeout, Bw utilized a 3-1 run of their own that forced head coach Jason Miller into his first timeout of the set. The stoppage proved crucial, but only briefly as BW stormed back to tie the match at 24-all. 

Miller used his second timeout to halt the comeback efforts. Out of the respite, Alyssa Crusey smashed a kill off a BW block and then stepped back to serve. Her service landed in the back corner as the Yellow Jackets called it out, gifting the second set to the Berg 26-24.

Again, back-and-forth play ensued for the third set. Unlike the first two sets, BW garnered control and played with the slight edge as both teams sided out. Heidelberg was forced into their second timeout of the set trailing by three at 19-16. 

The timeout did not phase the visitors as they held off the Berg pressure and took the set 25-20. BW's far superior .279 hitting percentage in the set proved to be the difference maker for the stanza. 

In the fourth, Heidelberg put some distance between the two sides grabbing a 19-10 lead after a 11-3 run. Alyssa Crusey drove the run as she served five consecutive times, but was led in large part to a plethora of errors from the Yellow Jackets. 

BW did not go down lightly as they burned their final timeout to kill the run and get back to within as many as four. However, the Berg fended off the comeback efforts and emerged with 25-20 set win. Olivia Cristian was awarded a crucial kill after a referee conference determined a BW touch, and Crusey's kill capped off the set, sending the match to a fifth frame. 

As if the first four sets weren't an indication as to how the fifth would go, both teams exchanged points rapidly. The Berg was first the eight-point side switch as they led 8-7 midway through the period. 

After the switch of sides, Heidelberg stepped it up a notch and put away the game. Spurts of three straight points on two occasions proved to be what they needed to earn the hard-fought win. The match was settled on a combined block by Jordann Gudorf and Mya Morris. 

With the win, the Berg moved to 20-3 -- matching last season's win total with six matches remaining. Also, with the win, it is the earliest the Student Princes have hit the 20-win plateau since the 2011 season when they beat Muskingum on October 9th of that season.

After her 11-kill outing tonight, Amy Feczer now sits at 451 career kills, needing just 49 to reach the career milestone of 500. 

Looking ahead, the Student Princes will continue their uphill OAC battle as they travel to Otterbein on Friday night. First serve in Westerville is at 7 p.m.