BELOIT, Wis. — Daniela Perez (San Francisco, CA) had 15 kills and finished the match herself, lifting Beloit past Rockford 3-2 (16-25, 26-24, 25-22, 25-27, 15-12) this evening at Flood Arena. The 2-hour, 25-minute match had 25 lead changes and 49 ties. It moved Beloit to 3-4 and followed a straight-set loss to North Park earlier in the day.
Perez hit .344 with only four errors on 32 swings against Rockford. She totaled 17.5 points, adding a service ace and three block assists. Naomi Murphy (Dubuque, Iowa) added 10 kills (10.5 points), and Selin Tufte (Clarkdale, Ariz.) had 7 kills, a solo block and two block assists for 9.0 points. Kierra Rayne Hoover (Albuquerque, New Mexico) contributed 8 kills and Audrey Deane (Omaha, NE) 5.
In the back row, libero Adelaide Schmitt (Aurora, Colo.) had 30 digs. Maddisyn Adams (Stockett, MT) added 17 digs, four service aces and 19 error-free receptions. Beloit finished with 94 digs to Rockford's 82.
Setters Aaliyah Gerard (Aiea, HI) and Lizzie Paschal (Holbrook, AZ) ran the offense. Gerard had 19 assists and two aces, and Paschal had 15 assists, two aces and nine digs.
Rockford took Set 1 25-16, hitting .296 to Beloit's .143. Jalyn Rhodes reeled off three aces in a 7-7 to 7-12 run that broke it open.
Beloit answered in Set 2. It led 18-13 after a 5-0 run with Paschal serving, then watched Rockford pull within 18-17 and trade points down the stretch. Adams' ace made it 23-22. After Rockford tied it at 24-24, a Rockford service error and a Kennedy Bryant attack error gave Beloit the 26-24 win.
Set 3 followed a similar pattern. Beloit led 13-10 and gave it back before Adams served three straight points from 18-18, including an ace, to seize control. Murphy's kill made it 23-21, and Beloit closed it out 25-22 on a Rockford bad set.
Beloit began Set 4 with a 1-0 lead after Rockford was assessed a red card. It led 12-9 behind two more Adams aces, but Rockford answered with a 7-1 burst. Down 24-21, Beloit ran off four straight points with Perez serving, capped by a Perez-Tufte block and Murphy's kill. That gave Beloit a 25-24 lead, but Rockford won the last three points for a 27-25 victory.
In Set 5, Beloit led 8-6 and trailed 12-11 late. It then closed the match with four straight points:
- Perez kill from an Ortiz set, tying it at 12-12
- Hoover kill, giving Beloit a 13-12 lead
- Paschal ace, making it 14-12
- Perez kill from a Paschal set, ending it at 15-12
Beloit hit .188 in the set while Rockford managed just four kills.
North Park won the day's first match 25-20, 25-19, 27-25, hitting .234 to Beloit's .155. Perez had 9 kills with no errors on 12 swings (.750). Murphy had 7 kills, Hoover 6, and Adams and Schmitt combined for 41 receptions with three errors.
Madeline Holthaus (Saint Paul, MN) had 9.5 points, including four aces. She served a six-point run to turn a 3-6 deficit in Set 3 into a 9-6 lead. North Park responded with a 6-0 run of its own but had to survive a tight finish. Beloit led 23-21 and held one-point leads at 24-23 and 25-24 before North Park took the final three points.
Across both matches Beloit totaled 88 kills, 134 digs and 12 aces. Perez had 24 kills, Murphy 17 and Hoover 14. Schmitt had 36 digs and Adams 28. Gerard had 30 assists, Paschal 22 and Emily Ortiz 14.
The Buccaneers are back in action on the road on Tuesday when they head to Watertown, Wisconsin and Maranatha Baptist. First serve from the MBU Gymnasium is set for 7:00 p.m.
