ST. PAUL, Minn. – A career-high 18 kills from sophomore
Kirstin Cotter paced way for the Bethel University volleyball team to capture a four-set victory (25-20, 21-25, 25-15, 25-17) over St. Thomas in the final meeting as MIAC foes.
Cotter hit .455 while picking up three block assists.
Macie Gavic hit .400 for the night putting down nine kills while
Emily Rossing (.538 hitting percentage) and
Danielle Friedges each had eight kills respectively.
A back-and- forth start saw Bethel string together a nice run with back-to-back kills from Cotter giving the Royals a 14-8 advantage. The Tommies responded out of their own timeout with four straight before a kill by
Hannah Wilhite ended the run. Continued success at the net kept BU in the lead before the teams traded off the final six points with the Royals coming out on top 25-20.
St. Thomas found a way in the second set to force Bethel to its lowest hitting set of the night at .167. Meanwhile the Tommies took advantage of a 10-4 start on its way to hitting .276.
BU led wire-to-wire in the third. The Royals smallest margin came at 6-4 before scoring four straight, two of which came from kills by Gavic.
Ellie Hoyt recorded three of her career-high four services aces in the third set.
The Royals finished it out in the fourth hitting .300 and a 66 sideout percentage. Surrendering the first two points to the Tommies, Bethel strung off seven straight. The Royals eventually opened up the advantage to 16-10 on back-to-back attacking errors from UST.
Bethel captured its first win over St. Thomas since 2015, and snapping a four-match losing skid to the Tommies, with the game-winning kill from
Allie Fauth.
The 2-0 Royals hit the road one last time traveling to Saint Mary's next Wednesday at 7 p.m. before returning to the Robertson Center for five straight matches. Per MIAC policy, no spectators will be allowed at any indoor volleyball matches this season.
