DE PERE - St. Norbert College battled Northern Athletics Collegiate Conference co-leader Aurora University to five sets but eventually fell 3-2 in a hard-fought match at Mulva Family Fitness and Sports Center.

The visiting Spartans claimed a 25-13, 24-26, 25-14, 22-25, 15-6 victory. Aurora jumped out to leads of 6-0 and 9-1 in the fifth set and the Green Knights couldn't recover.

Aurora pulled away from a 4-4 tie in Set 1 with a 16-5 run and take a 1-0 lead. St. Norbert answered to open Set 2 with an 8-0 run to take an 8-1 lead, including a pair of Kaden Kornaus service aces and two kills from Owen Knezevich. Aurora came back to lead 14-13 but the Green Knights wouldn't go away, seesawing their way to a 23-23. A Kornaus kill put St. Norbert up one, but a service error forced a deuce set. Jackson Corcoran and Kade Nelson came up with kills for St. Norbert to level the match at 1-1.

Aurora ended up taking a 14-4 lead in Set 3 en route to a 2-1 lead. St. Norbert kept the match going with a fast start in Set 4, jumping out to leads of 11-4 and 14-5. The Spartans crept back to within three on five occasions, but Logan Crowther's kill knotted the match at 2-2.

St. Norbert hit .108 for the match, finishing with 51 kills against 33 kills in 167 attacks. Kornaus had 15 kills, while Nelson had 11 kills against one error in 14 attempts. Michael Whitney had 43 assists. Nelson and Kornaus each had two service aces.

Ryan Conway totaled 14 digs, while Kornaus added 10. Barry Applewhite had four blocks, while Corcoran and Owen Knezevich had two each.

Aurora hit .308, with 61 kills against 20 errors in 133 attempts. Josh McLellan had 24 kills.