UPLAND, Ind. --- The Bethel University Women's Volleyball team (18-15, 8-10) ended the regular season with a tough loss against the Taylor Trojans (11-19, 6-12) in a straight-set match 18-25, 23-25, and 22-25 on Wednesday night, in Odle Arena for the Crossroads League Quarterfinal.

Maddy Payne led with 14 kills and 3 blocks, and Haley Biedenbach, contributed 28 assists. Ainsley Tacke led the defensive effort with 12 digs. Taylor outperformed Bethel slightly in kills (41 to 39) and blocks (5 to 7).

The first set opened neck-and-neck at 8-8 and tied again at 9-9 before the Trojans hit a 7-2 run and grew the lead to 16-11.

After the Bethel timeout, Payne had a kill at 21-15, then Gracen Norris' kill kept BU alive at 23-16. An attack error by Bethel set up Taylor for set-point, but Norris found the floor at 24-17 with a TU attack error to follow. It would not be enough as Taylor won the first set 25-18.

The second tied 8-8, and Taylor began to pull away to 11-8, but Norris started momentum to help the Pilots get within one point, 13-12.

Payne set the Pilots up to force extra points but fell short with a Trojan kill to end the second 25-23.

The fourth set was tied five times with the match on the line at 21-21, with a Pilot service error sparking a Taylor run 4-1 to put the third set away 25-22 and the match 3-0.

The Pilots are the fifth-seed for the Crossroads League Tournament Quarterfinal against the fourth-seeded Grace Lancers on Nov. 9 at 6 p.m. in Winona Lake, Ind., at the Manahan OCC.

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