Volleyball Can’t Solve USF Attack
Mishawaka, Ind. – The Bethel women’s volleyball team welcomed in the St. Francis Cougars for a matinee matchup in the Wiekamp Athletic Center on Saturday afternoon and fell in four sets, 23-25, 25-23, 13-25, 19-25. With the loss, the Pilots drop to 9-13 overall and 2-7 in the Crossroads League.
Haley Brown started the match with two kills early to give the Pilots a 4-3 lead and the Pilots would extend the lead to 12-7 on a kill by Kassandra Williams. The Cougars (5-13, 4-4) responded out of a timeout by going on a 6-2 run to pull within 14-13. The Pilot defense forced four straight errors to pull ahead 19-13 and looked to be in control with a 20-14 lead. However, the Cougars did not concede and pulled to within 22-18 before the Pilots called a timeout and continued the barrage to pull even at 22 to force another Pilot timeout. The Cougars went on to close out the set with three of the final four points to earn the 25-23 first set win.
Kassandra Williams got the Pilots on the board with two kills to put the score at 4-2 Cougars early and Brown delivered a game-tying kill at 4 apiece. Neither team could find separation in the second set with the Pilots pulling ahead 14-11 to force a St. Francis timeout. After the Cougars came back to tie it at 15, 17, and take a 18-17 lead, Payton Anderson and Williams put the Pilots back on top. Kristen Mitchell and Haley Brown put the finishing touches on the set and combined for four kills to give the Pilots a 25-23 win.
The Cougars found their groove in the third set, jumping ahead 10-2 and extended their lead to 13-3. A Kristen Mitchell kill brought the Pilots within 13-5 but the Pilots could not survive the onslaught as the Cougars poured it on with five straight points to go ahead 18-5. The Pilots were able to draw closer with four straight points late to get to within 22-12 but was not enough as the Cougars finished off the set with a convincing 25-13 victory.
The Cougars continued their momentum in the fourth set, taking a quick 6-0 lead. Haley Brown finished three straight attacks for the Pilots to bring them within 9-4 and added another to get within 12-5 but the Cougars jumped ahead 14-5 to force a Pilot timeout. The Pilots found four straight points out of the timeout to get within 14-9 but that was as close as the Pilots would get the rest of the match. Kristen Mitchell added three more kills in the set, while Brown added two more but the Pilots could not solve the Cougar attack and dropped a 25-19 fourth set affair.
Haley Brown notched 14 kills on the day, after notching 15 yesterday, while Kassandra Williams added double-digit kills for the second straight match as well with 10 of her own. Payton Anderson continued her impressive play with 34 assists to give her a two-day total of 83. Erin Carlos added 20 digs for her seventh time with at least 20 in a match on the season.
The Pilots return to action on Wednesday evening against Goshen for a 7:00 pm start in the Wiekamp Athletic Center on the campus of Bethel College.
