ST. PAUL, Minn. – There is never an easy match when it comes to the Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (MIAC). The Bethel University volleyball team experienced that Wednesday night holding off Hamline in a midweek five-set clash inside historic Hutton Arena. A strong fifth set led BU to its first MIAC victory winning by scores of 25-15, 25-16, 23-25, 22-25, 15-3.
Bethel improves to 10-5 on the year and 1-1 in MIAC play. The Royals head to Superior, Wis. this weekend for a pair of non-conference matches taking on Martin Luther College Saturday at 4 p.m. before facing off with UW-Superior at 6 p.m.
Three Royals reached double digit kill efforts led by junior
Maria Claflin with 14 kills. Juniors
Allie Fauth and
Macie Gavic each contributed 10 kills apiece. BU matched a season-high 11 service aces with junior
Rylee Forshee and Claflin adding three each. Sophomore
Hannah Wilhite tallied a season-high 43 assists. With 12 blocks as a team BU was lead individually by freshman
Emily Rossing with eight blocks.
It was all Bethel in the fifth set jumping out to a 6-0 lead. Hamline got it to 8-3 on a pair of kills and a service ace but would leave its side of the scoreboard untouched for the remainder of the match. A pair of service aces from Claflin followed with three straight kills and a Piper attacking error sent BU home with the victory.
Bethel jumped out to a two-set lead with convincing wins in the opening two sets. The Royals never looked back from a 9-8 lead in the first before overcoming a 4-0 deficit to start the second. It took 15 kills and a .244 attacking percentage for the Royals to go up 2-0.
Hamline played the Royals tight in the third set going on a four point run after being tied up at 17-17. BU pulled within one but a kill by the Pipers ended the set by the narrowest margin. A pair of BU attacking errors gave Hamline its largest lead of the match at 19-13 in the fourth. The Royals pulled within two before the Pipers came out on top forcing the Royals into their second straight MIAC five-setter.
