Women's Volleyball: Bethany battles No. 2 Hope in NCAA Tournament

HOLLAND, Mich. – The Bethany College women's volleyball team battled No. 2 Hope in the first round of the NCAA Women's Volleyball Championships Thursday evening at the DeVos Fieldhouse on the campus of Hope College.

THE MATCHUP

• No. 2 Hope 3, Bethany 0 (25-21, 25-10, 25-19)

HOW IT HAPPENED

• In the opening set the Bison gave the Flying Dutch one of their toughest sets of the season, holding a lead for majority of the set. The Bison held the lead until it was 19-19. Coming out of a Bethany timeout, Hope would go on a 6-2 run to complete the comeback and take set one.
• The Flying Dutch held all of the momentum in set two scoring nine straight points before the Bison could land on the board. Graduate student Riley Felton gave the Bison their first point of set two.
• In the final set, Bethany had their confidence return and battled to compete with Hope. The Flying Dutch took an early 6-2 lead, but the Bison battled back and knotted the match at 6-6 after Felton served up a service ace. The Bison hung around keeping the match close, but the Flying Dutch went on a 7-3 run to take a 20-12 lead. The Bison called a timeout to regain composure. Bethany stampeded back cutting the deficit to 23-18. Emma Marthins would have the final Bison kill of the night and the Flying Dutch would finish the set scoring on an attack error.

MATCH NOTES

• Riley Felton led the Bison with six kills.
• Emma Marthins and Destiny Goodnight added five kills. Marthins led the Bison with six blocks.
• Caroline Mercer led with 11 digs followed by Olivia Koehler's 10.
• Alaina Torres led with 22 assists.

NOTABLES

• The Bison reached the NCAA Women's Volleyball Tournament for the second consecutive year.
• The 11 seniors have finished their careers with a record of 61-38 (34-13 PAC).
• Alaina Torres finishes her career third all-time in program history with 2,957 career assists.
• Asia Crim finishes her career with 160 service aces which puts her eighth all-time in program history. She also finishes 8^th all-time with 1,366 career digs.
• Riley Felton finished 7^th all-time with 209 career assisted blocks.
• Emma Marthins finished 10^th all-time with 189 career assisted blocks.

RECORDS

Bethany College – 22-8 (9-1 PAC)    

Hope College – 28-2 (8-0 MIAA)