ARDEN HILLS, Minn. – The Bethel University and Augsburg University volleyball teams entered Tuesday nights MIAC Playoff match with even conference records and nearly even overall records, and the two squads played a nearly even five-set thrilling match. In the end though it was the Auggies who came out on top, scoring two more points than the Royals on the night. Bethel stormed to a solid 25-20 first set win then pulled out an incredible 30-28 victory in the second to take a 2-0 lead, but Augsburg was able to rally and win the last three sets 25-21, 25-19 and 15-13. The loss for Bethel was just their third home loss this season in front of a raucous Robertson Center crowd.
 
After losing in four sets at Augsburg on Saturday afternoon in the regular season finale where Augsburg outscored the Royals by 15 points, Bethel set the tone early on that Tuesday night in the Robertson Center would be a different deal. The Royals stormed out to a 7-2 lead in the first set, survived an Augsburg rally to pull within one at 7-6 with a 3-0 run, and went on to build their lead the rest of the way, finishing 25-20.
 
The second set would turn out to be an epic battle that saw big momentum swings in the middle of the match followed by a back-and-forth exchange, leaving the crowd wondering if the set would ever end. Bethel built an early 14-11 lead but Augsburg answered with a 6-0 run to take a 17-14 advantage. Augsburg maintained their lead to 19-16 but Bethel turned it on with a 4-0 run and 5-1 advantage through the next six points to take a 21-20 lead. The Auggies were able to get to their first set point with a 3-0 run to make it 24-23 but Bethel continued to fight it off by scoring single points on the next four exchanges before putting consecutive points together to take a 28-27 lead, their first lead since 23-22. Augsburg got a kill to make it 28-28 and then senior Brooke Olstad came up with consecutive kills to give the Royals the 30-28 victory.
 
Bethel jumped out to an early lead in set three as they looked for the sweep at 5-1. The Auggies were able to stop the bleeding there however and fought back to tie it up at 6-6. Augsburg then went on a 4-1 run to go up 9-7. The set would swing back-and-forth the rest of the way until Augsburg closed it out by scoring six of the last seven points to win 25-21. Set four started with a 3-0 run for Bethel followed by a 3-0 run for Augsburg. The Auggies would slowly pull away before a 3-0 run stretched their lead from 19-16 to 22-16 and they would finish with the 25-19 win to setup the fifth and final set.
 
The fifth set did not start off well for the Royals as they found themselves in an early 7-2 hole. As they've done all season though, Bethel responded. A thunderous kill from Tina Hoppe followed by an ace from Ellie Hoyt and another Hoppe kill fired up the crowd and pulled Bethel within two at 8-6, forcing an Augsburg timeout. The Auggies scored the next two points to go up 10-6 but again, Bethel came back with a pair of 3-0 runs sandwiched around one Augsburg kill to pull within 13-12. Augsburg was able to get to match point at 14-12 but a Hoppe kill kept Bethel alive to make it 14-13 before a service error ended the match, giving Augsburg the 15-13 victory.
 
The stats in the match were as even as the two teams have been all year. Augsburg accumulated 85 points to Bethel's 83 while the Auggies had 69 kills to Bethel's 68 and the Royals had 66 assists to Augsburg's 65. Both teams had seven service aces and Augsburg held a 9-8 advantage in blocks while Bethel led in digs, 131-124.
 
Sophomore libero Allie Fauth had an incredible game in the back row for the Royals, recording 36 digs. Freshman Hannah Wilhite had 42 assists to go along with 16 digs. Senior Tina Hoppe had 19 kills and 13 digs while fellow senior Brooke Olstad had 14 kills and 21 digs as well as eight assists and two aces. Sophomores Macie Gavic and Maria Claflin both had double digit kills with 12 and 13 respectively while senior Karin Canakes led Bethel with five blocks.       
The win for Augsburg advances them to the MIAC semi-finals at Gustavus while the loss ends the season for the Royals. Bethel's final record of 23-8 (.742) gives them the third best winning percentage in program history behind only the 1984 (40-4) and 1983 (32-11) teams. It was the sixth time under 17-year head coach Gretchen Hunt that the Royals won over 20 games, the most since the 2015 team went 25-10 and advanced to the Elite 8. The game marks the end of the careers for four Bethel seniors, Karin Canakes, Tina Hoppe, Brooke Olstad and Bailey Israelson.