NORTHAMPTON, Mass. -- The Mount Holyoke College volleyball team came back from 2-1 down to win 3-2 (25-20, 16-25, 14-25, 25-20, 16-14) at Smith College on Tuesday night in the Lyons' best win of the season.

Mount Holyoke (13-11, 4-5 NEWMAC) is tied for seventh place in the NEWMAC standings and a step closer to clinching its first conference playoff berth since 2006. The Lyons also have their most conference wins in a season since 1994, when the team went 6-1 in the league, then known as the NEW-8.

Senior Elle Rimando (Mililani, Hawaii) had a career-high 23 kills, including six in the deciding fifth set, and senior Madeline Barton (Brookfield, Wis.) tied a season-high with 22 kills for the Lyons.

Alison Chapin had 14 kills and Abby Hunt had 11 for the host Bears (16-10, 6-3 NEWMAC), who remain in fourth place in the NEWMAC, with two conference matches remaining in the regular season.

Mount Holyoke won in spite of a .143 to .267 disadvantage in attack percentage for the match, as well as a 14-3 disadvantage in team blocks. But the Lyons attacked at a superior rate to the Bears in the first and fourth sets, which they won.

The fifth set was won by the slimmest of margins, and featured 10 ties and six lead changes, more than the first four sets combined. Service aces by Rimando, first-year Elanni Romero (Nashua, N.H.), and Barton on match point provided the winning difference. Match point capped a match-ending 3-0 run by the Lyons, with kills by Barton and Rimando.

The win stops Smith's five-match winning streak against Mount Holyoke.

Senior Sadie Duffrin (Minneapolis, Minn.) had 40 assists and 11 digs in the match; junior Kyra Staples (Chatham, Ill.) and senior Amelia Ringor (Lafayette, Ind.) contributed 15 and 12 digs, respectively.

The Lyons will play at Keene State on Friday at 6pm.