BELOIT, Wis. – The Beloit College Volleyball Team won both home matches on today at Flood Arena. The Buccaneers beat Knox 3-1, then held off Alverno 3-2 in a five-set match.
Against Knox, Beloit held Knox to a .020 hitting percentage. Renee Stout (Nocona, TX) serve helped the Buccaneers go up 9-5, and they led 20-14 and 23-15 before Knox cut it to 23-20. A Knox service error made it 24-20, and Madalyn Huizel (Faribault, MN) finished the set with a kill. Knox hit .268 and took control in the middle of the set. Lilianne Bethards (Rockford, IL) had five kills and hit .364, and Beloit cut a 24-17 deficit to 24-20 before Knox closed it out. In set 3, Aaliyah Gerard (Aiea, HI) served the first nine points, including two aces, and Beloit led 9-0 after a Naomi Murphy (Dubuque, Iowa) and Madeline Holthaus (Saint Paul, MN) block. The Buccaneers hit .206 while Knox hit -.095 with 11 errors. In the final set of the match, Knox led 18-12 and 19-14 before Beloit scored eight straight points. The run started with an Maddisyn Adams (Stockett, MT) kill, and Stout's serve, two Huizel kills and a Knox error finished it for a 22-19 lead. The teams were tied at 24-24 and 25-25 before Bethards' kill from Gerard made it 26-25. A Murphy and Kyra Suiter-Meyers (Orfordville, Wis.) block made it 27-26, and a Knox attack error ended the match.
Beloit won in five sets after Alverno forced a fifth with a pair of comebacks. The Buccaneers hit .200 as a team (53 kills, 19 errors, 170 attempts) and Alverno hit .077 with 36 errors. Beloit also held a 6.0 to 4.0 edge in team blocks, and the match had 24 ties and 10 lead changes. In the opening set, the teams were tied at 10-10, then Beloit scored four straight points, led by Huizel's kills and a Needham attack error at the block of Selin Tufte (Clarkdale, Ariz.) and Murphy. Kierra Rayne Hoover (Albuquerque, New Mexico) then took over, with kills at 18-15 and 19-15, and Stout's kill at 23-17 pushed the Buccaneers toward the finish. Hoover scored on 24-18, and an Alverno error ended the set. In set 2, Beloit was dominant. The Buccaneers hit .308 with no attack errors, and Murphy and Tufte combined on a block to make it 8-3. A Hoover service run, including an ace, made it 17-6, and Beloit led 24-12 before closing the set at 25-14. Their side-out rate was 71 percent. In the third, Alverno jumped out to a 9-1 lead behind Mary Needham's serving, and Beloit used a timeout. The Buccaneers rallied all the way back to tie it at 15-15, then took an 18-17 lead on a Murphy kill. Alverno answered with a late run to win 25-21, and Beloit hit just .139 in the set. In the fourth, Alverno led 10-4 and 13-7 before Beloit fought back to tie it at 14-14. Huizel put down kills at 15-14 and 16-14, and Beloit led 20-16 and 22-21 on a Tufte kill. A Hoover kill made it 24-22 and Beloit later had set point at 25-24, but Alverno scored the final three points of the set. In the final set, Beloit led from the start. Murphy's kill made it 1-0, and two Murphy blocks, one with Tufte and one with Bethards, helped the Buccaneers jump out to a 5-2 lead, forcing an Alverno timeout. Alverno tied the set at 9-9 and 10-10. Hoover's kill at 11-10 put Beloit back on top, and Murphy's kill from Gerard made it 12-11. Schmitt's kill from Tufte at 13-11 and a Gerard ace at 14-11 pushed Beloit close to the finish, and Murphy put it away with a kill from Gerard for 15-12.
This wraps up the 2026 Beloit College Volleyball season. Thank you Seniors.
