Many of the faces have changed, but the results often remain the same.

For the Grace College volleyball team, 84-15 over the past two seasons with one NCCAA national championship, winning has become the norm. However, with three freshmen and a sophomore starter, the Lancers expect some rough times before the championships begin rolling in. On Wednesday night, Grace experienced one of those rocky times, dropping a four-setter to St. Xavier for the second time in a week, 15-5, 14-16, 15-6, 15-13.

Over the last three years, there has always been one steadying influence, Melissa Rants. Rants set the single season and career school record for assists in her sophomore season. As a senior, she continues to dish out the assists, only the names are different. Instead of Rebecca Wahlstrom and Stacey Jackson, now she has quite a trio in freshmen Kate Millen and Kelli Irish and senior Molly Maidment.

Grace came out strong early in game one against St. Xavier, taking a 4-1 lead after three kills from Millen. However, the Cougars answered with 13 straight points to take the first set easily.

Game two started badly for Grace as St. Xavier took a 3-0 lead. DeAnna Beachy helped the Lancers back into the game with three kills to knot the game at 4-4. Still tied at 7-7, the Cougars went on another run to go ahead 14-7, but Grace would not give in. St. Xavier had five service chances for the game, but could not capitalize on any of them. The Lancers scored nine unanswered thanks to three blocks from Millen to take game two 16-14.

St. Xavier dominated game three, taking a 6-1 lead and extending that to 13-3. Grace tried to make another run with three consecutive points, but it was not enough as the Lancers fell 15-6.

In game four, Millen got on track with three kills and an ace as the Lancers took a 7-0 lead. Grace still led 12-7 when St. Xavier began to make a run and pulled it to 13-10. Then the Cougars' Amy Horwath took over. She got a kill for a sideout, then picked up two more kills and three blocks as St. Xavier won 15-13.

"I'm looking at our performance this year as one step at a time," head coach Candace Moats said. "Just getting better on something else. Tonight, I saw better movement on defense. If they can do just one thing better each time, we're going to put it together. These are stepping stones to work towards the end and we're going to be on fire when we get there. Now, we're working on team unity, focus, staying mentally in the game. We're getting tight and it's going to come."

Coach Moats understands that with so many youngsters playing key roles, it will take time to come up with key plays in clutch situations.

"They're thinking about doing things that should come naturally," Moats said.

Millen led Grace with 13 kills and 11 blocks. Rants added 31 assists and 17 digs, while DeAnna Beachy had 10 kills.

Grace (8-4) will host St. Francis on Tuesday at 7:30 p.m. [[In-content Ad]]