Bethel volleyball beats receiving votes Ottawa in a thrilling five set match
The Threshers beat Ottawa on Saturday in a five set match led by four hitters in double-digit kills
The Bethel College volleyball team beat Ottawa in a five set thriller, winning the fifth set 15-11.
“I was really proud of how composed we were,” said head coach Adriana Leake. “I felt like we showed a lot of growth in that area. We hit really well and served really well. Darla [Crow] had a huge game along with all of our pin hitters, which we've been waiting for everyone to click all at once, that was so fun to see.”
The Thresher hitters had a field day in the stat sheets, with four hitters having 14 or more kills. Laci Ownbey had 23 kills and Cameron Offerle had 16. Kylah Carter added four blocks to her 16 kills, and Darla Crow had 14 kills and a game-high eight blocks.
“The execution of our offense against their block was our biggest strength,” said fifth-year senior Carter, from Houston, Tex. “Having all hitters readily available to score certainly caused confusion for our opponent.”
Another Thresher spoke on their defense on Saturday as well.
“Our biggest strength was the amount of focus and discipline we had during the intense moments in the game,” said senior Ownbey, from Benton. “We responded so well to their attacks! This win is huge and we got the job done but now is when we start working even harder. We still have a lot more work to do.”
In the three sets that they won Saturday, Bethel held an average hitting percentage of .381 over the three sets, while in the two sets Ottawa won, the Threshers were held to an average hitting percentage of .127. The Threshers had 19 errors combined in those two sets.
“We still have a lot of areas we can grow in,” said Leake. “Continue to better our offense by bringing down our hitting errors numbers. I feel like our defense has started to improve a lot but there's still a lot of growth there too. We're also really looking to our middles to drive some numbers consistently and that's something we'll continue to work on as well.”
The Threshers defense held Ottawa to a .184 hitting percentage, and kept the ball off the floor. Brooke Russell, Abby Koontz, and Amaya Malhas all had more than 14 digs on the day, and Mia Roman had 12 digs to go along with her 63 assists.
Despite looking to make improvements, the Threshers are in a good position as they head forward with KCAC play after defeating an Ottawa team that is receiving votes in the national poll and sitting at a 6-2 record in conference play with five regular season games left.
“We're just focused on each day and how we can maximize each rep, each point, etc,” said Leake, when asked about what the mindset is as they get ready to face a Kansas Wesleyan team that recently upset the no. 6 ranked team in the nation in Oklahoma Wesleyan on Saturday.
The Threshers take on Kansas Wesleyan on Wednesday, Oct. 23rd at 7 p.m. in Salina.