Volleyball takes two at Westminster tri-match

Oct. 8 - NEW WILMINGTON, Pa. - The Bison earned a pair of 3-0 wins over Grove City and Westminster Saturday afternoon in Presidents' Athletic Conference (PAC) play at the Buzz Ridl Gymnasium.

The Bethany College volleyball team improves to 9-2 in the PAC, 14-11 overall this season.

BETHANY 3, Grove City 0 (25-23, 25-13, 25-13)
The Bison opened play with a 3-0 win over Grove City in an early afternoon match.

The twin-sister duo of seniors Dylana and Dakota McKenzie (Hopewell, Ohio/West Muskingum) led Bethany with 11 and 10 kills, respectively. Classmate Allie Powell (Indianapolis, Ind./Lawrence Central) finished with 31 assists, five kills and five digs, while freshman Maggie Merren (Oregon, Ohio/Clay) led the defensive efforts with 15 digs.

Neither team created any separation in the opening set, until the Bison notched points on four of five rallies to take a 24-20 lead. The Wolverines tallied a trio of points to pull within one, but a kill by Dylana McKenzie clinched the set for Bethany.

The Bison controlled the pace of the game in the second and third sets. Bethany raced out to leads of 10-3, 16-7 and 22-11 in its 25-13 second set win.  Grove City stayed with the Green and White over the first nine points of the third set at 5-4, but Bethany claimed 13 of the next 15 points to take an 18-6 lead and control of the set.

Bethany established a new season-high single-set hitting percentage at .516 (19 kills, three errors, 31 attacks) in its second set win.

BETHANY 3, Westminster 0 (25-9, 25-14, 33-31)
A thrilling back-and-forth third set highlighted the Bison 3-0 win over Westminster in the final match of the tri-match.

Dylana McKenzie led Bethany with 15 kills, while her sister Dakota added nine and senior Alexis Castro (Lorain, Ohio/Lorain) chipped in eight. Powell guided the offense with 36 assists and Merren totaled 13 digs in the win.

After taking the first two sets, Bethany had trouble putting away the host Titans. The third set saw 21 ties and Westminster was a point away from pushing the match to a fourth set at 24-22, but the Green and White battled back to a tie at 24-24.

Each team had multiple chances at set-point until a kill by Dylana McKenzie and a bad set by the Titans ended the match at 33-31, giving the Bison the straight-set sweep.

Bethany is back on the court on Tuesday, October 11 when they head to Latrobe, Pennsylvania to take on Saint Vincent at 7 p.m.