MILWAUKEE – Mount Mary volleyball team is playing its best ball of the season, but was still waiting for its first match victory of the season entering Saturday's Blue Angel Invitational at the Bloechl Center.

Finally, the wait is over.

With an exciting finish to a very long day, Mount Mary knocked off Emmaus Bible College 25-11, 23-25, 25-14, 23-25, 15-8 to score its first match victory of the 2013 season.

The Blue Angels were very close to picking up two match victories Saturday, but fell in the opening matchup to Grace Bible College in another five-set thriller, 19-25, 33-31, 25-23, 21-25, 14-16.

The invitational opener featured several incredible rallies, as both teams battled to take control of the match. Grace used strong finishes in the first and fourth sets—using 8-2 and 9-2 runs respectively—to even the match at 2 sets apiece. The Tigers then used a four-point run to turn a 10-11 deficit into its first match point. However, kills by freshman middle Harmony French (Amherst, Wis.) and two more from junior outside Sarah Wishau (Oak Creek, Wis.) tied the set at 14-14. Grace was able to take the final two points, and the triangular opening match.

Looking much more focused after its earlier loss, Mount Mary came out very strong in sets one and three against Emmaus, racing out to a 10-0 and 15-2 leads en route to convincing set wins. However, the west end of the gym was seemingly cursed, as the Blue Angels fell in a pair of 25-23 decisions.

Emmaus, which played the majority of the day with just six players, started showing signs of fatigue as Mount Mary exposed some weak spots in the Eagle defense. But each time, Emmaus would find an answer and somehow pull itself back into the match.

In the deciding fifth set, French tallied three straight shots that tagged the back line to surge MMU into a 9-4 lead. A pair of aces by freshman defensive specialist Grace Rock (Kouts, Ind.) pushed the lead to 12-6 and the Blue Angels never looked back, securing their first match victory of the year.

As a team, the Mount Mary got a total team effort on a day in which the 200-plus crowd got plenty of great volleyball. All three matches—including Emmaus' victory over Grace in the second match of the Invite—went five sets in thrilling fashion.

Mount Mary out-hit (.162 to .045), out-blocked (3.0 to 6.0) and out-dug (90 to 84) Emmaus, while recording 15 service aces to the Eagles' six. On the day, MMU recorded eight more blocks and 11 more aces than its opponents combined.

Individually, Wishau tallied a match-high 24 kills against Grace and added 19 more against Emmaus while hitting at an impressive .212 clip on the day. Freshman outside Taylor Baumgart (Burlington, Wis.) added 17 kills in the two-match slate while French recorded nine against Emmaus and 14 overall on the day.
 
Wishau added an impressive 61 digs on the day, including a season-high 32 against Grace Bible. Freshman setter Phoenix Hulsey (Wauwatosa, Wis.) also showed her defensive prowess, adding 29 digs against Grace and 13 more against the Eagles.

The setting tandem of Hulsey and junior Katie Edwards (Mackinaw, Ill.) offered 39 and 34 assists respectively through the two matches. Hulsey also served up seven service aces against Emmaus alone, while freshman Grace Rock (Kouts, Ind.) tallied three aces apiece in each match.

The very successful day improves the Blue Angels to 1-22 overall on the season.

Mount Mary University also hosted the inaugural Athletics Open House, in which potential student-athletes got a sneak-peak at Blue Angel athletics. Concluding the Open House was the first annual Pizza Wars, in which Toppers earned both trophies for Best Pizza and Best Specialty Pizza.

Mount Mary will conclude its season Tuesday evening, culminating a season of growth at home against Beloit College. Game time against the Buccaneers is slated for 6:00 p.m. at the Bloechl Center.

BLUE ANGEL INVITE FINAL RESULTS

Grace Bible College def. Mount Mary, 3-2: 25-19, 31-33, 23-25, 25-21, 16-14
Emmaus Bible College def. Grace Bible College, 3-2: 21-25, 26-24, 25-17, 16-25, 15-12
Mount Mary def. Emmaus Bible College, 3-2: 25-11, 23-25, 25-14, 23-25, 15-8

Saturday's overall records:
Mount Mary: 1-1 (5-5 sets)
Emmaus Bible College: 1-1 (5-5)
Grace Bible College: 1-1 (5-5)