Bethany Falls to Geneva in PAC Opener
Sept. 9 – BEAVER FALLS, Pa. – The Bethany College volleyball team dropped a 3-1 decision to Geneva College on Wednesday evening in Beaver Falls. The Bison fell in the four-set match; 25-22, 21-25, 25-17, 28-26.
The Green & White opened the contest by dropping the first game to the Golden Tornadoes by a score of 25-22. Bethany opened the game well, taking a 4-1 lead on a service ace by freshman Emily Duke (North Ridgeville, Ohio/North Ridgeville).
From there, however, Geneva would battle back, eventually taking the lead 9-8 on a kill by Marissa Naples. The hosts would push their lead to as many as five in the first game (20-15), before taking set one.
The Bison would have an answer in the second game, using an early 6-1 run to open a six-point advantage, 11-5. Following back-to-back kills by Dylana McKenzie (Hopewell, Ohio/West Muskingum) and an error by the Golden Tornadoes, Mackenzie Lauber (Mansfield, Ohio/Madison) tallied a service ace which was then followed by kills from Julia Mouch (Toledo, Ohio/Sylvania Southview) and Arielle Sanders (Maple Heights, Ohio/Maple Heights). The run was enough to fuel the Bison for the rest of the set, as they took game two, 25-21.
The Green & White would fall in the third set as Geneva staked itself to a ten-point lead (19-9) on an ace by Rachel Tuck. The Golden Tornadoes would go on to take the third set, 25-17.
Bethany came just one point shy of pushing the match to a fifth game as they led 24-22 on a kill by Alexis Castron (Lorain, Ohio/Lorain). However, Geneva would outscore the Bison 4-1 over the next five points to take a 26-25 advantage, and would eventually take the set 28-26 and the match 3-1.
Offensively, the Bison were led in the contest by Sanders, who finished the match with 12 kills. McKenzie also tallied 12 kills in the game, while Castro finished with 10. Mouch and Sumayyah Muhammad (Warren, Ohio/Warren G. Harding) each totaled eight kills in the loss while Lauber and Duke posted 25 assists, each.
Defensively, the Bison total 81 digs in the four-set match, led by a career-high 25 from freshman libero Reilly Parker (Irwin, Pa./Norwin). Mouch finished with 19, while Lauber and Dakota McKenzie (Mansfield, Ohio/Madison Mansfield) finished with 11 apiece.
Bethany will be back in action on Friday and Saturday, September 11 and 12 as they travel to Erie, Pa. to participate in a tournament hosted by Penn State-Behrend University. Their first match on Friday is scheduled to begin at 3:30 p.m.
