ADRIAN, Mich. --- Maddy Payne hit third all-time in career kills with 1,514 kills and passed Emily Henry ('08-'11) who had 1,495 in her tenure as a Bethel Pilot Women's Volleyball player. The Pilots had a good start to the Siena Heights Invite on Friday night with a sweep over the Trinity Christian Trolls (1-3) and won in four sets 3-1 over the IU-Northwest Red Hawks (5-5).

VS TRINITY CHRISTIAN

Maddy Payne surpassed 1,500 kills after swinging for 16 kills in the match which was one shy of her season-high of 17, but the fifth-year senior did set a season-high in hitting percentage at .520.

Paige Franz had another good defensive match with 14 digs of the Pilots total 43 which marks her sixth straight 10+ dig match.

The Pilots broke away from a 7-7 tie in the first set eventually jumping to a 15-9 advantage thanks to two-straight attack errors by the Trolls. The Trolls were stopped at 15 points and went on a 3-0 run to put away the opening set 25-15.

In the second set, BU went on a 6-0 run to take the lead from an 18-16 deficit and slipped to a 22-19 advantage but the Trolls took advantage of two errors by the Pilots to tie the second set 22 all; three straight Troll errors gave Bethel the set 25-22.

Bethel took no time to jump to a 14-4 lead in the third set and hit 20 points before the Trolls grew to 11 with a sweep on the line but BU held Trinity Christian to under 20 points and secured the sweep with a 25-17 third set victory.

In the history of the matchup, BU is 6-7 all-time and 3-2 at neutral sites since their first matchup on Sept. 6, 2006, where the Pilots swept the Trolls.

VS IU NORTHWEST

The Pilots had 12 total blocks with Payne holding nine of them. Payne had another 13 kills and totaled 30 kills for the day, but Ainsley Tacke and Taylor Delp swung for 15 kills each in a great effort for the Bethel offense with a total of 56 kills for the team. Payne also hit a season-high .709 hitting percentage with only one error for the match.

Franz had her seventh straight match with 10+ digs at 19 (23 for the night) against the Red Hawks with Paige Hickey ending the night with 14 of her own.

In the all-time series, Bethel remains undefeated against the Red Hawks and moves to 3-0 and 2-0 in neutral-site matches.

NEXT TIME OUT

The Pilots go into day two of the Siena Heights Invite in Adrian, Mich. on Saturday, Aug. 31 with Calumet College of St. Joseph at 10 a.m. then take on the Lawrence Tech Blue Devils at noon.

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