SOUTHFIELD, Mich. —The Bethel Pilots (14-16, 7-10) concluded their WHAC tournament run in a five-set thriller with Lawrence Technological University (25-2, 16-0) in Don Ridler Fieldhouse on Thursday evening.
The Bethel Pilots took the second and fourth sets of the night from the No. 3 ranked team in the NAIA.
In the first set, attacking errors by Christian Woumnga and Pablo Tello granted Lawrence Tech a 2-0 lead.
Bethel narrowed their deficit mid-set by executing a four-point run on all earned points, concluding with a solo block by Thomas Dunkley. (12-10).
Pablo Tello scored the last kill of the set, assisted by Maik Herbst (24-20).
Lawrence Tech snatched the first set on the next play for a final score of 25-20.
In the second set, the Pilots came out with an early seven-point run, initiated by a kill by Santana Roybal-Benson. In the middle of the run, Thomas Dunkley scored a kill to send the Blue Devils into their first timeout of the night. After the run, Bethel led 8-1.
Lawrence Tech followed suit with their own consecutive set of seven points to send Bethel into a timeout after a service ace mid-run (10-8). Lawrence Tech’s Brendon Down aced the Pilots to claim a lead over Bethel for the first time in the set (11-0).
In the tug of war for points, the Pilots locked in three back-to-back earned points to win the second set. Thomas Dunkley posted the final kill for a 25-20 win over the Blue Devils.
With the set score tied at 1-1, Lawrence Tech challenged the Pilots both at the net and behind the service line. Mario Cid scored a kill toward the end of the set (20-13) to jumpstart a five-point run. Pedro Aguiar and JT McCarthy stuffed an attack by Pablo Tello with a block to give Lawrence Tech a game point (24-13).
Despite a noteworthy three-point run by the Pilots to prolong the third set, the Blue Devils took the set 25-16.
In the fourth set, the Pilots responded with a 4-0 lead, concluding with a service ace by Maik Herbst. Bethel did not drop the lead once throughout the entirety of the fourth set.
Thomas Dunkley showcased his attacking consistency in the second half of the set. Dunkley posted four kills for Bethel, and his last one set the Pilots up for success at game point (24-18).
Lawrence Tech battled back to claim an additional three points, but an attacking error by Brendon Down sent the Pilots into the fifth set with a 25-21 fourth-set victory.
In the deciding set of the evening, Santana Roybal-Benson and Christian Woumnga each scored a kill to put the Pilots up 2-0.
Lawrence Tech tied the score 3-3 following an attacking error by Pablo Tello.
The anticipation intensified as the offensive war relocated from the net to the service line. A service error by Mario Cid gave the Pilots an 8-7 lead. Pablo Tello then faced a whirlwind of emotion by acing the Blue Devils(9-7) before recording two service errors (9-8) and (15-15).
With a final block by JT McCarthy, Lawrence Tech won the final set 17-15 over the Bethel Pilots.
The impressive five-set thriller marks the last post-season game for the Pilots, who for the first time in the 2025 season took a set from the Lawrence Tech Blue Devils. Bethel previously fell 3-0 to LTU on Friday, Mar. 7 and Friday, Apr. 11.
Head Coach Jose Viera Cerame shared, “First off, I’m very proud of how these young men performed all season long. It was a tough loss, but I guess it wasn’t for us this year. Next year we will be back stronger than ever. I want to thank everyone who supported us throughout the season. My coaching staff:Â Dave, Rebecca, Taylor and Gracen did a great job and I’m very thankful for all of their help. We’ll be ready for 2026. Go Pilots!”