AURORA, Ill. - Despite reaching their ninth straight NACC semifinal, the No. 3 Edgewood College volleyball team fell short of their sixth championship bid in a 25-16, 25-17, 25-18 defeat to No. 2 Aurora on Thursday night.

The Eagles (18-15) couldn't keep up with an Aurora attack that hit .347 on the match and were led by 2016 NACC Player of the Year Katie Vondra's 21 kills. After tallying 13 or more aces in six of their last seven matches, the Eagle offense was limited to six on the night and fell three short of tying the single season school record of 288. Without their serving prowess, it was tough to string together runs against a stout defensive team.

The Spartans (26-6) ended the Eagles six-match win streak after jumping out to quick 12-5 and 17-9 leads, respectively, in winning the first two sets. A pair of slow starts didn't deter the Eagles as they battled Aurora to a 7-6 deficit to begin the final set. Aurora, like they had previously done early on, utilized a 5-1 run to go up 11-7 and held at least a four-point lead the rest of the way.

Savannah Koester led the way with three total aces and also fell one short of tying the NACC's all-time ace leader. Her attempt at matching the eight-year old record late in the third set was uncontested and landed inches short of the end line. The Monroe, Wis. native finished with 235 career aces and over 1000 kills.

Senior Haley Schwenn added 16 assists and five digs, Renee Meister posted a team-high 11 kills and a .333 hitting percentage, and Mackenzie Hannan contributed two kills in their final matches.

Despite the loss, the Eagles wrapped up their eighth consecutive 18-win season while the senior class of Koester, Schwenn, Meister, Chaussee, and Hannan ended their careers with 83 wins, one NACC Championship (2011), two NACC semifinal appearances, and two NACC tournament runner-up finishes.