ALLIANCE – The Heidelberg University volleyball team dropped a heartbreaker on Saturday, falling in five sets to Mount Union.  A back-and-forth affair fittingly went the distance, but the Student Princes were unable to put a run together in the end, losing 25-17, 16-25, 17-25, 25-21, 12-15.

HU fell to 16-8 (4-3 OAC) with the loss while the Purple Raiders improved to 19-5 (6-1 OAC).

After falling behind 4-3 early in the first set, the Berg rallied off nine straight points to take a commanding 12-4 lead.  The Student Princes were able to maintain that lead the rest of the set, capping off a first set win with a kill by Sadie Estle.

Heidelberg fell into a rut in the second and third set, hitting just .118 (2nd set) and .064 (3rd set) to drop the pair of sets 25-16, 25-17.

Trailing 21-19 in the fourth set, the outlook was not great for HU, but the Berg was able to rally, scoring the final six points of the set to take it 25-21 and force a fifth and deciding set.

The fifth set saw each side make small runs early before Heidelberg held a 12-11 edge.  That was the last that the Student Princes would see the lead, however, as Mount Union rallied off the final four points to wrap up the match.

Maddie Szawranskyj (21 kills) and Liana Petitti (17 kills) led the attack for the Berg on the day.  This marked the fourth time this season and sixth time in her career that Szawranskyj reached 20 kills in a match.

Heidelberg will look to bounce back on Wednesday when they travel to University Heights to face John Carroll.  That match is slated to start at 7:00 PM.