MISHAWAKA, IND. – Bethel Women's Volleyball dropped a hard-fought four-set match to Marian (Ind.) on Wednesday night at Gates Gymnasium, falling 3-1 in the Crossroads League opener despite claiming a tightly contested opening set. Liberty Pierson paced the Pilot offense throughout the match, finishing with 17 kills.
Quick Facts
Location: Gates Gymnasium | Mishawaka, Ind.
Match One Results: Marian def. Bethel 3-1 (26-24, 20-25, 18-25, 19-25)
Records: Bethel - 2-6 | Marian - 8-1
NAIA Top-25: BU - NR | MU - NR
MATCH RECAP
SET ONE
- Bethel and Marian played through 17 ties and five lead changes in a tightly contested opening set.
- Marian built a two-point cushion late at 24-22, but Bethel closed the set on a 4-0 run.
- Bethel closed out the set 26-24 as Marian committed back-to-back attack errors to give up the final two points, with an Alex Brown kill sandwiched in between to give the Pilots set point.
SET TWO
- Marian raced out to an early 5-1 lead, and pushed the advantage to 11-6 before Bethel answered with three straight to cut the gap to 11-9.
- Marian rebuilt the cushion to eight points at 21-13, but Bethel answered with four straight to trim the deficit back to three.
- Marian closed out the set 25-20 on back-to-back kills from Chloe Cook.
SET THREE
- The set was tied at 4-4 before Chloe Cook served back-to-back aces to spark a Marian run that built the lead to 14-7.
- Bethel answered with back-to-back kills from Liberty Pierson and Taylor Delp to cut the deficit to three at 16-13, but Marian pulled away again down the stretch, building a seven-point cushion at 24-17.
- Marian closed out the set 25-18 as an Evie Dart block forced a Taylor Delp attack error on set point.
SET FOUR
- The set stayed tight early, with Bethel never trailing by more than four, before Marian ripped off a run from 18-13 to a nine-point cushion at 22-13.
- Bethel answered with five of the next six points capped by a Kami Vester service ace to cut the deficit back to five at 23-18, but couldn't complete the comeback.
- Marian closed out the set and the match 25-19, Chloe Cook's kill off a Mya Cunningham set sealing it on match point.
KEY PILOTS
Next Up
- Bethel hosts the Mishawaka Mayhem tournament this weekend.
- Live Stats can be found HERE.
- Live Video can be found HERE.
- Tickets can be found HERE.
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