FORT WAYNE, Ind. – On Friday evening the University of Saint Francis Cougars (11-9; 5-3 Crossroads) played host to the Mount Vernon Nazarene University Cougars (17-4; 4-4 Crossroads) at Hutzell Athletic Center and fell in five sets despite a strong comeback by scores of 19-25, 14-25, 25-23, 25-23, and 12-15.

In the opening set Mount Vernon jumped out to a 7-2 lead before the Cougars had to call their first timeout. After that Saint Francis battled tough and fought back to close the deficit down to as little as two points on several occasions.

But as the set neared the end, Mount Vernon held steady and rallied to win by six as the Cougars dropped the opener.

Heading into the second set the Cougars looked poised to even the match as they took a 4-2 lead to open the frame, only to have Mount Vernon respond with a six-point service rally to go ahead 8-4. Matters didn't get any easier as the Cougars fell further behind as the set progressed, eventually needing to call a timeout trailing 23-14.

The Cougars were never able to catch back up as they dropped the set by 11 to trail by two games in the match.

Opening the third set the Cougars started out strong building a 7-3 lead to start. But like they had the previous set, Mount Vernon clawed their way back to tie the Cougars, and the teams went back-and-forth throughout the frame.

But the Cougars stayed resilient and used their early lead to their advantage to clip Mount Vernon by two to earn their first win of the match.

As the fourth set got underway the Cougars carried their momentum over and played Mount Vernon hard throughout the frame, leading 16-13 before Mount Vernon had to call their first timeout. The Cougars then extended their lead to as big as five points and held on to win by two points again as they fought back to tie a fifth and deciding set.

Opening the fifth set, the Cougars had all the momentum as they jumped out to an early 4-1 lead. But Mount Vernon didn't go quietly chipping away and tying it at nine before the Cougars had to call a timeout.

After that, Mount Vernon ran the table as they stormed back to win the finale by three as the Cougars suffered the loss despite an incredible comeback.

Throughout the match, sophomore outside hitter Addison Shafer led the Cougars in kills with 18, while sophomore setter Alexa Sparks led the way in assists with 52, and senior defensive specialist Maile Steckelberg had a team-leading 34 digs.

The Cougars resume play on Saturday afternoon when they travel to Huntington, Indiana to take on the Huntington University Foresters (7-12; 3-5 Crossroads) beginning at 12:00 pm.

Cougar fans, stay updated with all events and recaps with USF Athletics by visiting Saintfranciscougars.com or by downloading the Saint Francis Cougars app.