Box Score 1 | Box Score 2 FORT WAYNE, Ind. --- The Pilots had a great first day at the Onset Invitational hosted by the University of Saint Francis (Ind.) with a pair of sweeps against the Talladega Tornadoes (0-2) and the IU-Southeast Grenadiers (0-3) on Friday.



VS TALLADEGA

The Pilots jumped to a 6-1 lead out of the gate at the start of the Onset Invitational but the Tornadoes responded with a 6-1 run of their own to take the lead 8-7 early in set one. Talladega took advantage of a couple of errors from the Pilots and grew their lead to 14-9 before Michaela Whitaker found an open hole in the Tornado defense coupled with three errors by TC.

With a four-point lead at 21-17, Liberty Pierson scored from Reanna Brown's set with an attack error and set error to set up the Pilots for the set point that was sealed by Taylor Delp's kill to give the Pilots set one 25-19.

Bethel overcame a 10-3 deficit in the second set by gradually chipping away the Tornados to a 15-11 lead while still dealing with hardships on offense. Delp and Payne had back-to-back kills to tie the set 19-19. Delp grew the lead to two points 22-20 and the Tornadoes gave up set two on an attack error to give BU the two-set lead.

The third set was a tight finish starting at 19-18 BU lead after TC threw down a kill and later tied the set 20 all and later 22 all before Delp put the Pilots up 23-22 with a kill followed by Michaela Whitaker's kill then Payne's kill to seal the set victory 25-22 and complete the Pilots second straight sweep this season.


VS IU SOUTHEAST

Taylor Delp had a great game with a 12-kill night after about a five-hour wait between matches for a season-high. Biedenbach had a season-high 24 assists and totaled 38 for the day.

The Pilots held IU-Southeast to single-digit points until 23-10 where Bethel would eventually take the first set 25-12. The set opened with a Pilot 7-2 run and continued to climb with a comfortable lead to set the tone.

The second set was more of a battle starting up 7-3 but tied 7-7 after a pair of miscues on the attack. The Pilots battled to 24-20 but allowed two points before sealing the second set 25-22.

In the third, there were three ties starting at 22-22 with an ace for the Grenadiers, IU-Southeast had an attack error to tie back up 23 all, followed by another Grenadier ace, then Liberty Pierson tied the set 24 all to force extra points. Pierson would later seal the set 26-24 and match for the Pilots for their third straight sweep.


NEXT TIME OUT

Day two of the Onset Invitational kicks off Saturday, Aug. 24 at 1:15 p.m. for the Pilots against the Defiance College Yellow Jackets, then take on the IU-Kokomo Cougars at 5:30 p.m. both in the Allen County War Memorial Coliseum.

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