GRINNELL, Iowa – Beloit College Volleyball falls to Grinnell 25-17, 25-17, 25-15 on this evening at Darby Gym. The Buccaneers dropped to 6-14 overall and 1-7 in Midwest conference play, while Grinnell improved to 9-12 and 5-3 in the MWC.
Grinnell hit .409 as a team (46 kills, 10 errors, 88 attempts) and won the sideout battle in every set. Beloit hit .214 (25 kills, 7 errors, 84 attempts), and committed only seven attack errors, but could not keep pace with Grinnell's efficiency. The Buccaneers served seven errors against five aces, and the match saw just one tie and no lead changes, as Grinnell controlled each set from the opening points. Both teams finished with 2.0 team blocks.
Beloit trailed 10-4 in the first set and called a timeout, then answered with a pair of kills from Daniela Perez (San Francisco, CA), who had five kills on seven swings (.714) in the set. Grinnell led 16-10 and later pushed the margin to 19-14 before a second Beloit timeout. Perez added a kill to cut it to 19-15, and she scored again at 22-16, but Grinnell closed on service aces and a kill from Millie Leonard. Selin Tufte (Clarkdale, Ariz.) and Lilianne Bethards (Rockford, IL) each had two kills in the set, and Emily Ortiz (Aurora, IL) ran the offense with five assists.
Grinnell opened the second set with a 5-0 run and led 9-2 before Beloit rallied. Perez had four kills on seven swings and Bethards added two kills as the Buccaneers cut the deficit to 12-4 and later 15-10. Aaliyah Gerard (Aiea, HI) fed the offense with four assists, and Lizzie Paschal (Holbrook, AZ) added three. Beloit recorded a block on Mia Meert from Naomi Murphy (Dubuque, Iowa) and Madeline Holthaus (Saint Paul, MN) at 15-6. Grinnell pulled away from there, and Keira Sullivan finished the set.
In the final set, Beloit hung in early at 6-3, with Murphy and Bethards combining on a block of Ella Tulimieri for the Buccaneers' second block point. Murphy led the Buccaneers with three kills in the set, and Gerard had four assists. Grinnell took control with a 7-0 run at 10-8 and led 20-11 before Beloit cut the deficit to 25-15.
Despite the loss, Perez led Beloit with 10.5 points, putting down a team-high 10 kills and hitting .600 on 15 attempts with just one error. She also added a block assist. Murphy had five kills and a block assist for 5.5 points, and Lilianne Bethards added five kills and a block assist for another 5.5 points. Bethards hit .278 on 18 swings. Selin Tufte hit .333 with three kills in nine attempts, and Madeline Holthaus added two kills, a block assist and seven digs. She also had 18 receptions without an error. Aaliyah Gerard led the offense with 13 assists, while Emily Ortiz (five assists, one ace) and Lizzie Paschal (five assists, two aces) also distributed the ball. Gerard also had a .361 set percentage.
