LYLE — The Lyle-Pacelli volleyball team is still trying to find its ground after losing senior hitter Sarah Holtz to an injury a couple of weeks ago. On the first night Holtz was back in uniform, LP showed how far some of its younger players have come while filling in for her.

While Holtz still wasn’t ready to play on Thursday, she watched her teammates drop the first two games before they rallied to win the last three. The Athletics edged out Spring Grove 21-25, 22-25, 25-23, 25-23, 16-14.

LP (6-6 overall, 5-2 SEC) trailed the final game 11-8 and it bounced back to win. Lucy Nelson had a kill to tie the game at 14-14 and Kendal Truckenmiller served an ace to make it 15-14.

Nelson, a freshman, has been one of the players who has stepped up in Holtz’s absence. She had 12 kills and seven digs in the win.

“I think I’ve gained a lot more confidence this year,” Nelson said. “It was pretty awesome and amazing to play in that fifth game.”

Bethany Strouf also stepped up for LP as she tallied 17 kills and Courtney Walter had 36 set assists and six ace serves. Walter said she’s gotten her timing down with all of LP’s hitters and she was glad to pull off a come from behind win on Thursday.

“We had to come together to get the win. We did really well. We lost Tuesday and we really needed this one. We didn’t want to lose two in a row,” Walter said. “Lucy’s done awesome this year. She’s been incredible.”

LP led each of the first two games early on, but the Lions (7-7 overall, 4-3 SEC) came back to win both of them. The Athletics saw SG score five straight points to pull within 24-23 in the third game and LP used back-to-back aces by Faith King to go up 23-20 in the fourth game.

“They weren’t going to give us anything,” LP head coach Lauren Cost said. “They were waiting for us to make mistakes. Fortunately, we pulled out with less mistakes. It was a tough one. They had to dig down deep and we had to see what LP was made of tonight.”

LP stats: Bethany Strouf, 17 kills, 5 digs; Lucy Nelson, 12 kills, 7 digs, 3 ace serves; Courtney Walter, 36 set assists, 6 ace serves, 3 kills; Faith King, 11 digs, 2 ace serves; Olivia Christianson, 6 kills; Danielle Hinz, 1 kill; Kendal Truckenmiller, 2 ace serves