The Hillcrest Ravens came back from an early 12-3 deficit in set three for a 28-26 win, but Cedar Valley Christian took the final two sets on Monday to win it in five. 

Malia Yoder led the Ravens with 22 kills and 15 digs in the loss. 

The Ravens bounced back from a 24-26 loss in set one to take the second. A perfectly placed tip from Kylee Statler put the Ravens up 23-15 before the Huskies scored three of the next four. 

Needing just one more point, Hillcrest coach Brandon Statler called a timeout and told his team to stop pressing with a six-point lead, and allow CVC to make the game-ending mistake. A point later, the Huskies hit the ball off the ceiling and Hillcrest tied the match with a 25-19 win. 

Trailing 17-9 in the second set, a perfectly placed spike from Erin Bontrager started a run for the Ravens. Niva Helmuth had a kill and a block as the gap closed to 21-20. 

A serve into the net gave CVC a chance to end it with a 25-24 lead, but a Husky error tied it up and Yoder’s kill gave the advantage to the Ravens, who earned the 28-26 win. 

Neither team led by more than a few points in the fourth set until CVC scored five of the last seven points in a 25-22 win. That momentum carried over to the fifth as the Huskies used runs of 5-0 and 8-0 to take the set 15-5. 

Statler finished with 15 kills and 10 digs. 

Freshman setter Claire Withrow had a career-high 38 assists and added nine kills in the loss. 

Withrow had 24 assists in a 22-20, 21-18 win over Keota in a tournament at Washington on Saturday. Statler had eight kills while Yoder finished with seven kills and 18 digs.

Adrianne Blauvelt was 6-of-6 serving with an ace in a 14-21, 13-21 loss to Highland. The Ravens also fell to Sigourney and Washington.

The Ravens (3-22) traveled to Louisa-Muscatine (2-20) on Tuesday with both teams looking for their first SEISC win. 

Hillcrest opens the postseason on Monday, October 17 at No. 14 New London (21-9).