AURORA, Ill. – Mount Union Men's Volleyball team dropped a three-set match 27-25, 25-22 and 26-24 to Aurora (Ill.) Friday night at Thornton Gymnasium.
 
The Purple Raiders (1-5) were led by junior Andrew Cross (St. Louis, Mo. / St. Louis University High) who had 11 kills on the night.
 
Juniors Luke Trzeciak (Cranberry, Pa. / Seneca Valley) and Cameron Ternent (Canal Fulton / Massillon Jackson) both finished with six kills.
 
Sophomore setter Caleb Dawson (Harmony, Pa. / Seneca Valley) and freshman Will Heeney (Hudson / Walsh Jesuit) both had 14 assists while senior libero Steven Grenier (Hawthorn Woods, Ill. / Lake Zurich) finished with a game-high 13 digs.
 
The first set saw the lead change four times while be tied eight different times. Mount Union began the game leading 5-2 until a 7-2 run from Aurora gave them a 9-7 lead. The Raiders could not grab another lead in the set but would tie the game up at 24 on a Ternent kill. Aurora finished the set on a 3-1 run.
 
In the second set the back-and-forth battle continued with eight different lead changes and 16 ties. Neither team led by more than three points as Aurora had that lead twice in the set. Mount Union's final lead came on a kill from Cross to take a 21-20 lead.
 
The final set had 21 ties as neither team had more than a run of two points with Aurora having the largest lead of two being the final score in the set.
 
Mount Union continues its trip in Illinois as it travels to Naperville, Ill. tomorrow Saturday, February 12 at 3:30 p.m. to take on No. 6 nationally-ranked North Central.