The Beloit College volleyball team went the distance topping Maranatha Baptist in an exciting five-setter Tuesday night in Watertown, Wisconsin. The Bucs won 3-2 (18-25, 25-23, 25-17, 21-25, 15-13).
In the first four sets of the match, the Buccaneers took the two middle games and MBU won the bookends to force the decisive fifth set. That set put the finishing touches on an exciting, back-and-forth battle between the two squads.
Beloit and MBU traded points through the first half of the fifth set with the Sabrecats holding an 8-7 lead when the teams switched sides. The Bucs tied it after the switch on a kill by Molly Muller. A Sabrecat miscue was followed by an Amanda Baran ace to give the Bucs a 10-8 advantage.
Maranatha Baptist came back with the next two points to knot the score 10-10. Fans may have felt a little déjà vu as the Bucs regained the lead by a Sabrecat miscue and extended the gap to two points on a service ace, this time Emily Stapay was at the service line for Beloit.
Once again, MBU came back with the next two points to tie the game 12-12 forcing a Beloit College timeout. Allison Faber put down a Stapay set to sway the score 13-12 in favor of the Bucs and force MBU to take a timeout.
Slightly out of system in the next rally, Regina Guehlstorf set up Eva Laun-Smith for the kill and a 14-12 Beloit lead. The Sabrecats took their final timeout. A service error gave MBU the serve with the Bucs holding match point.
The Bucs went back to their high flying outside hitter Laun-Smith who hammered down the kill for the set win, 15-13, and the match, 3-2.
Statistically, the teams were nearly identical with Beloit holding a 51-50 advantage in kills and MBU holding an 8-7 advantage in aces. The difference came at the net defensively with the Bucs tallying 13 blocks in the contest compared to nine for the Sabrecats.
Laun-Smith tallied 22 kills in the match, her fourth consecutive outing with 17 or more kills. Muller added 13 kills and five block assists in the contest. Defensively at the net, Faber led Bucs with seven block assists.
Paige Wimbrow and Stapay shared setting duties combining for 30 assists and got in on the defensive action with 32 digs.
Up Next: Beloit will host Mount Mary University Friday night as part of the annual Homecoming festivities. The Buccaneers will also honor assistant coach Ken Yasukawa during the match.
