OMAHA, Neb. – Heart and grit.

College of Saint Mary Coach Rick Pruett saw more of both of those things Wednesday night, but 20th-rated Midland had the final word in their Great Plains Athletic Conference volleyball opener at a raucous Lied Fitness Center.

The Warriors spotted CSM the opening set but outlasted the Flames 18-25, 25-22, 25-20, 25-23 in the conference opener for both schools that lasted two hours and 11 minutes.

"First of all, what a great environment to play college volleyball,'' Pruett said. "That was a loud gym. Our fans, our students that were here were just amazing. … Give them credit for keeping the energy in the gym, even when we were down.

"I'm really proud of the ladies because they battled. We just haven't been doing that and they did tonight. Unfortunately, they just scored a few more points than we did."

Trailing two sets to one and 17-13 in the fourth set, College of Saint Mary (7-4 overall, 0-1 GPAC) made one final push. Azaria Green followed two solo blocks with a kill to cap a 6-0 burst and put the Flames up 19-17.

The set was tied at 19, 20, 21 and 22 before the Warriors (5-6, 1-0) scored two straight to earn a pair of match points. Trailing 24-23, Flames libero Elen Pruett made a pancake dig to prolong the point, but a hitting error ended the match.

Despite the result, Coach Pruett saw progress.

"I'm pretty hard on them, just about the little things, the effort, the energy,'' he said. "Tonight, I saw all those things.''

Senior Grace Werner led the Flames, who dropped out of the NAIA national top 25 this week, with 12 kills while hitting a team-best .333. Senior Morgan Ramsey added eight kills, while Green pitched in seven and Liz Henrichson had six. Miranda Ring handed out 21 assists and Kaitlyn Busby added 16. Reaching double figures in digs were Elen Pruett (12), Busby (11) and Caitlin McCormack (10). Busby served four aces, while Green notched six block assists and one solo.

In her first front-row action of the season, freshman Ashlyne Havermann gave the Flames a spark with four kills and a pair of block assists.

"I thought Grace played really well,'' Pruett said. "Ashlyne Havermann came off the bench and had some big blocks and kills, and really helped us out in that position when we needed to get some swings. I wish we would have used our middles a little more.''

CSM sprinted to an 18-10 lead in the opening set and held on. The Flames led 19-13 in the second set, but Midland rallied to even the match.

"Late in the second game, we had some mistakes and some errors that cost us,'' Pruett said. "I talked to them about the little things – getting a big block or a kill and then going back and missing a serve.''

The Warriors kept the momentum in the third and fourth sets, and left town with the hard-fought victory.

"It was one of those GPAC games that could go either way, and unfortunately we just didn't get it done,'' Pruett said.

CSM returns to action with one match Friday and two Saturday at the Evangel University Tournament in Springfield, Mo.

*In junior varsity action, Midland defeated CSM 2-1 by scores of 25-23, 23-25 and 15-10.