Bison take down Grove City, Saint Vincent at tri-match

Andrew Woodley, Sports Information Director

BETHANY, W.Va. (Oct. 14) – The Bethany College volleyball team swept a pair of Presidents' Athletic Conference (PAC) matches at a tri-match at the Hummel Field House Saturday afternoon. The Bison opened the day with a 3-0 win over Grove City, before knocking off Saint Vincent 3-1 in the finale.

THE MATCHUPS

• Match 1 Final: Bethany 3, Grove City (25-12, 25-18, 25-18 | Box Score)
• Match 2 Final: Bethany 3, Saint Vincent 1 (25-20, 20-25, 25-14, 25-11 | Box Score)
• Records: Bethany 15-7, 8-2 PAC | Grove City 9-12, 6-3 PAC | Saint Vincent 10-11, 3-7 PAC
• Location: Hummel Field House | Bethany, West Virginia

BETHANY vs. GROVE CITY MATCH NOTES

• The Bison hit .232 as a team and finished the three-set win with 34 kills. Bethany's opening set win featured 13 kills on 22 attacks with one error (.545).
• Grove City closed the gap to 8-5 in the first set, but the Bison never allowed the Wolverines to get any closer. Bethany built a 20-9 lead that forced a Grove City timeout, before closing the set at 25-12.
• The Wolverines hung with the Bison early in the second set, trailing 9-7, but Bethany pulled away once again. The Bison pushed their lead to 20-14 and held off a late rally to win 25-18 in the second set.
• The third set followed a similar script from the previous two sets. Grove City hung with the Bison, leading 8-7 at one point.
• Bethany took control with 13 of the next 17 points to take a 20-12 advantage. The Wolverines had one last surge to pull within six at 23-17, but the deficit was too much to overcome as a kill by sophomore Lindsey Llewellyn (Vermillion, Ohio/Norwalk St. Paul) put the finishing touches on the win.
• Sophomore Katie Sparks (Macedonia, Ohio/Trinity) led the team with 12 kills and added eight digs defensively.
• Senior Summayyah Muhammad (Warren, Ohio/Warren G. Harding) tallied nine kills and added five blocks (two solo), while junior Reilly Parker (North Huntington, Pa./Norwin) was the top defender with 14 digs.

BETHANY vs. SAINT VINCENT MATCH NOTES

• The Bison held the lead for the majority of the first set, but the Bearcats rallied back to tie the score at 18-18 and took their first lead since the score was 1-0 at 19-18.
• A Bethany timeout got the home team back on track, as Bethany closed the set with seven of the next eight points, while holding Saint Vincent without a kill over that stretch to win 25-20.
• Saint Vincent had its best set of the day in the second stanza, hitting .464 with 14 kills on 28 attacks (one error). Meanwhile, the Bison had their worst set of the day, hitting just .083 with nine errors en route to a 25-20 loss to tie the score at 1-1.
• The tables turned in the third set. Bethany hit .424 with 15 kills on 33 attacks (one error), while Saint Vincent only hit a mere .071 with six errors. 
• Bethany led by as many as 12 at 19-7 and a trio of kills by Sparks closed the set at 25-14 and gave the Bison a 2-1 lead.
• The Green & White ended the match with a 25-11 fourth set victory. Saint Vincent tied the set at 5-5, but 12-2 spurt by the Bison with sophomore Maggie Merren (Oregon, Ohio/Clay) pulled Bethany out to a comfortable 17-7 lead, before they finalized their eighth PAC win with eight of the next 12 points.
• Sparks once again led the Bison offense. She tallied 19 kills on 41 attacks (seven errors) to hit .293 for the match.
• Llewellyn and Muhammad both totaled double-digit kill totals as well. Llewellyn finished with 15 and a .333 hitting percentage, while Muhammad added 11 with at a .296 clip in the win.
• Freshman Jenna Scott (New Castle, Ind./Liberty Christian) tossed around 47 assists, while Parker's 12 digs led the defense for the Bison.
• Bethany finished with a .252 hitting percentage as a team, the fourth-highest mark this season in a match.
• The Bison also tallied 16 service aces, with a game-high four from junior Keili Terry (Leesburg, Va./Saint John's). Terry added six in the win over Grove City and finished the week with 18 total service aces in four matches.

UP NEXT

• The Bison will be back in action on the Hummel Field House court on Tuesday, October 10 when they host Chatham in a PAC contest at 7 p.m.
• Fans can watch a live video stream of the match here.