Monmouth led early and late in the first set, but couldn't hold off Grinnell Friday night on the Pioneers' court, eventually falling 3-0.
 
The Scots led 23-21 in the see-saw first set before the Pioneers rallied back to take Set 1, 26-24. Grinnell kept the momentum in a 25-13 second set win and reeled off five straight points late in Set 3 to take the decisive set 25-19.
 
Brooke Decker led the Scots with seven kills and a .429 percentage.
 
Monmouth travels to Simpson Saturday for a nonconference contest before returning home to host Eureka Tuesday night at 7.