POINT LOOKOUT, Mo. — The Bethel Pilots split the day to be 1-1 in Pool A of the NCCAA National Tournament after a sweep over Mid-America Christian and was swept by Columbia International.
VS MACU
Gracen Norris hit the 500 career kill milestone after dropping seven kills, with Maddy Payne leading the team with 14 to add to her record for career kills in program history.
Bethel started the first set with a 7-3 run, but the Evangels chipped away to a 13-13 tie.
The Pilots responded with a 7-1 run to bounce back to a 19-14 lead, with Ainsley Tacke having two kills among a few MACU attack errors. The first set would end with Bethel winning 25-20.
In the second set, Bethel started down by a small margin, 4-2, but stormed back and took the set 25-15.
The third set tied nine times with the match on the line, but secured the sweep with a 25-20 win over the Mid-America Christian Evangels with a third set victory 25-20.
VS COLUMBIA INTERNATIONAL
Both teams hit under .100 in their respective attacks in the first set with the Pilots having 11 attack errors and the Rams with eight.
The first set battled to a 10-10 tie after back-and-forth lead changes and tied again 11-11 before CIU hit a small 3-0 run that was answered by a Pilot 3-0 run to tie 14-14.
The Rams had set point after a Pilot attack error 24-20, and BU put up two points before losing the first set 25-22.
The second set was also a battle with 10 ties before CIU pulled away from an 11-11 tie to spark a 14-12 advantage.
Bethel battled back to 17-17, and the set tied four more times when the Rams hit set point 24-21, but BU put up two more points before losing the set 25-23.
The struggle continued into the third set with another 10-10 tie, then fought to 13-13 when the Rams sparked a 9-2 run, 21-15.
For the third straight set, Bethel scored twice before losing the set 25-20 and the match 3-0.
The Pilots battle the Carolina Bruins on Thursday, Dec. 4, at  7 p.m. for the final match of Pool A, with the top two teams advancing to bracket play on Friday, Dec. 6.
