FORT WAYNE, Ind. --- The Bethel Pilots (13-8, 3-5) had their ninth five-set match of the season in the 3-2 (21-25, 25-16, 29-27, 23-25, 12-15) road loss to the Saint Francis Cougars (8-12, 1-7) on Saturday.

The first set went to the wire in the late points after ties at 11-11 and 20-20 but the Cougars went on a 5-1 run to take the first 25-21.

Bethel took charge of the second set with Michaela Whitaker's ace giving the Pilots a six-point lead, 12-6, then Maddy Payne, Breyana Bosket, and Taylor Delp had consecutive kills to get to set point before Ainsley Tacke sealed the set 25-16 and tie the match 1-1.

The third set went to extra points, forced by back-to-back Cougar kills but was full of attack errors from USF followed by two Tacke kills before Haley Biedenbach, who tallied 47 assists, faked a set over the net for the set winner 29-27.

Saint Francis would proceed to take the final two sets to give the Pilots their fourth five-set loss of the season and their third on the road.


NEXT TIME OUT

The Pilots take on the Taylor Trojans at home in the Gates Gymnasium on Wednesday, Oct. 2 at 7 p.m.

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