Maybe they should just start the matches at 2-2.

For the third time in eight days, the Muhlenberg volleyball went to five sets in a home match. And for the third time, the Mules came out on top, edging Scranton 16-14 in the fifth.

The win extended Muhlenberg's winning streak to seven, its longest since 2001. And it was an excellent tuneup for the Mules' Saturday contest at Johns Hopkins, a rematch of the 2013 Centennial Conference final.

In an extremely competitive CC that has seen four of the first seven league matches this season go to five sets, the experience of playing in close matches could be highly beneficial. And the Mules (14-2) are certainly getting plenty of that experience.

Only a three-set sweep of Cedar Crest prevented Muhlenberg from playing three consecutive five-set matches.

The first set, a snappy 25-15 Mule win, gave no indication of what was to follow. Scranton (13-7) survived four set points to pull out the second set, 29-27.

The teams swapped the next two sets to bring the match to a decisive fifth set.

Muhlenberg led 6-2 in the fifth, but the Royals came back to tie the score at 10-10. Scranton was two points away from winning, at 13-11, but the Mules scored the next three points to bring up match point at 14-13. The Royals escaped the first match point, but back-to-back kills by sophomore Allison Glass finally ended the marathon.

Glass finished with 11 kills to lead a balanced Mule attack in which six different players had at least seven kills. Junior Joanne Josephson (pictured left) recorded eight kills in only 16 attempts.

Senior Nikki Dickson and junior Vanessa Pulice had 20 assists apiece.

Muhlenberg notched 13 blocks in the match, with juniors Sarah Weyhmuller and Katherine Boll (left and right, above) finishing with six and seven, respectively.

When attacks weren't blocked, junior Chelsea Kaser had 24 digs and sophomore Elizabeth Garrison 13.