Box Score

ST. JOSEPH – Winners of its last seven games against conference opponents, Bethel fell to No. 25-ranked St. Benedict 3-1 Wednesday night in the second-to-last regular season match of the 2012 season. The Royals (19-11, 6-4 MIAC) led late in the second, third, and fourth sets, but only mustered a victory in the third before falling to the Blazers (25-4, 9-1 MIAC) 25-23 in the fourth.
 
Caitie Helle (Sr., Onamia, Minn.) tallied 11 kills for the Royals Wednesday evening, while her counterpart Amy Baumetz (Sr., Three Lakes, Wis.) also went double-digit style with 10 kills. Baumetz finished with an attacking mark of .300 and also accounted for seven blocks. Kali Johnson (Fr., Tacoma, Wash.) also finished with a solid all-around performance, composing seven kills, 19 digs, and a block assist.
 
Leading the back line in digs for Bethel was libero Val Smith (Sr., Alexandria, Minn.), who finished with 29 digs. Smith, who ranks first among all MIAC athletes in digs per set with 6.12 digs per set, went toe-to-toe with the Blazers, Victoria Nass, who is in second behind Smith at 6.05 digs per set.
 
Setter Cierra Nickel (So., Sanborn, Minn.) finished the competition with 39 assists, just shy of her 15th 40-plus affair of the 2012 campaign.
 
At 6-4, Bethel is in a three-way tie for fourth with Carleton and St. Olaf—both teams the Royals lost to. BU will host No.7 St. Thomas Saturday at 6 p.m. following the football game against Hamline in the final game of the regular season. The MIAC playoffs consist of six teams, giving the No. 1 and 2 seeds a first round bye.