Box Score
ST. PAUL, Minn. - Leading from start to finish in a 3-0 victory, the Bethel Royals' win over Hamline University gave them five consecutive conference wins to close out the season. Down the stretch, the Royals won seven of their last nine matches with their only two losses coming against teams ranked in the top 10 nationally.
Bethel came out firing from the very beginning, never trailing during the first set, en route to a 25-20 victory. The second set was more of the same as the Royals never trailed, going up two sets to zero after a 25-18 win.
In the third set, Bethel fell behind 3-2, but using
Nicole Wriedt's (So., Pewaukee, Wis.) six kills in the final set, were able to gain control quickly, and the Royals coasted to a three set sweep, 25-15.
Wriedt had 14.5 points on 13 kills and three block assists to lead the Royals.
Kelly Otto (Sr., Plymouth, Minn.) and
Brianna Falck (Jr., DeForest, Wis.) had nine and 10 kills for Bethel, respectively. Danielle Bennett-Curry and Anita Rojas led the Pipers with 10 kills each.
For the season, Wriedt led the Royals with 306 kills, while Otto and
Amy Werner (Fr., Three Lakes, Wis.) each had more than 200 kills, Otto with 260 and Werner with 208.
Betsy Naatjes (Jr., Sioux Falls, S.D.) garnered 864 of the team's 1158 assists and Werner led the team with 96 total blocks.
With the win, Bethel ends the season with a 14-15 overall record, and a 5-6 mark in the MIAC. The Pipers fall to 14-13 (2-8). Otto and
Bethany Shearer (Sr., Prior Lake, Minn.) are the only two graduating seniors from a team that showed promise at the end of the season and with 10 underclassmen, has a bright future ahead of them.
