University of St. Thomas Athletics
Bethel
Volleyball needs five sets to beat inspired Bethel
9/30/2009 12:00:00 AM | Volleyball
No. 6-ranked St. Thomas raced to leads of 7-0 and 13-2 in the decicive fifth set and outlasted an inspired Bethel team in Wednesday's MIAC volleyball match at Concordia University's Gangelhoff Center.
The Tommies (13-2 overall, 4-0 MIAC) remained unbeaten in the conference as they posted a 22-25, 27-25, 25-19, 21-25, 15-5 win over the upset-minded Royals (5-9, 0-4). The Toms lead the MIAC race by one-half game over 3-0 St. Ben's and by one game over three teams.
Six of Bethel's nine losses have come against nationally-ranked teams.
The Royals scored the last four points to take the first set, 25-22. The Royals led 24-20 in set two and were on the verge of taking a commanding lead, but UST used a 7-1 run to take the set and even the match.
UST won the third set, again scoring the last seven points for a 25-19 win. But Bethel led throughout the fourth set and won 25-21 to force the fifth set.
In the fifth set, Katie Bonine had four kills and the Tommies hit .643 with no errors.
On the match, Jill Osborne had 20 kills and hit .359; Kyley Crotty had 16 kills and 17 digs; Emily Foster had 56 assists and 12 digs; Bonine had nine kills, eight digs and five blocks; Kaitlin Wachrer had 23 digs; Tori Jones had five kills and five blocks; and Molly Staton had 18 digs.
For Bethel, Amy Werner had 13 kills and six blocks; Kelly Otto had 11 kils and eight blocks; Betsy Naatjes had 38 assists, three aces and eight digs; Valerie Smith had 28 digs; and Nicole Wriedt had 11 kills and five blocks.
The Tommies play four matches this weekend in Dubuque, Iowa at the Iowa-Minnesota Border Battle.
Click here for box score:
