Thresher volleyball loses close match to Evangel
Bethel moves to 16-7 on the season and 4-2 in conference play with the loss.
SPRINGFIELD, Mo. - The Bethel College volleyball team lost a close match to the Evangel Valor three sets to one, moving the Threshers’ record to 16-7 on the season, and 4-2 in KCAC play.
This is the Threshers’ second straight loss in four sets. Three of the six sets that the Threshers lost in the last two matches were by two points, including a 31-29 set versus Evangel.
“The last points definitely feel the heaviest, but we're more focused on the points throughout the match that add up to the game being so close at the end,” said Head Coach Adriana Leake. “We missed too many serves and points at other critical moments that make it tougher at the end of the game. Executing the game plan and working through a few more kinks really will make the difference in those matches against the top teams in the conference.”
Despite the two losses, the scores of the matches indicate that the Threshers are right on the cusp of being 6-0 in conference play, versus their current 4-2.
“Against Evangel and McPherson we struggled to block and defend their hitters,” said Leake. “Evangel's offense was super efficient because we really struggled with blocking alignment and our back row struggled to read their hitters. They were a really good team and played a really clean game. As you can see in the scores the margin was so small and they just did a few things better than we did.”
Evangel had a strong hitting performance, with a percentage of .250, while Bethel had a hitting percentage of .183, with only five total blocks in the match. Despite this, the Threshers did still have some strong statistical performances.
Laci Ownbey and Cameron Offerle each had a 17 kill match for the Threshers. Both Ownbey and Offerle have averaged about 3.2 kills per set this season. Setter Mia Roman had 51 assists for the Threshers. Abby Koontz led with 19 digs, and Roman and Offerle added 14 and 15 digs respectively.
The Threshers are working on fixing what needs to be fixed, but also are not ignoring the positives that they have had in the loss versus Evangel.
“We talked about starting strong and not wasting a set to get focused and play well,” said Leake. “We did that. We started off really strong and with the exception of the second set we played such a solid game all the way through. Cam O and Laci were both incredible in that game and we worked really hard throughout the entirety of the match.”
Bethel will now look to play Ottawa in Thresher Gym on Saturday at 2 pm.