Win streak continues for Bethel volleyball with five-set thriller over Evangel
The Thresher defense stepped up throughout a tough offensive match.
The Thresher volleyball team fought through a tough offensive day to win in five sets against Evangel to stay 6-0 in conference play and move its win streak to 13 games.
The Threshers got off to a hot start, taking the first set before losing consecutively in sets two and three. Despite being down and struggling to find a rhythm, Bethel rallied back to take the fourth and fifth sets to avoid rallying its first KCAC loss.
“I feel like we haven't faced a lot of trials and adversity throughout our season,” said head coach Adriana Leake. “So to be able to pull out that win was really big for us. It was ugly, but to still make it happen and show fight there in the fifth set was good.”
The Threshers seemed out of sorts for much of the match against the Valor, who attempted to shut down Bethel’s power hitters on the outside. While it provided a challenging task for the Threshers, they eventually overcame this obstacle and kept their 13-game win streak alive.
“Some little adjustments that we made throughout the game made a big difference, but really, our middles came alive and they were the ones that made it happen for us,” said Leake. “[Evangel] had a great game plan of shutting down our outsides and they didn't succeed, but they did force more errors on them than they normally make.”
Two of the middles that played great for the Threshers were freshmen Darla Crow and junior Jordan Boone, who combined for 17 kills and 12 blocks between the two of them.
“I think our offense started to come alive in the fourth and fifth set and I also think that we worked as a team instead of individually,” said Boone from Gardner. “However I do hope to improve our mindset. We haven’t seen a fast-paced offense in a while so I hope that we can improve our speed in the future.”
Even though Evangel game-planned for them, outside hitters frehsman Cam Offerle and senior Kylah Carter still led the team with 14 kills each. Senior Harlie Hunton also added eight kills and six blocks of her own for the Threshers. Senior Kaity Shima helped boost the offense as well with 30 assists while fifth-year senior Katey Wilhelm anchored the defense with a team-leading 28 digs.
“Towards the middle of the game, our energy increased which helped us win that fifth set but I feel like we could start our games with more intensity, and then that'll help us not go to fifth sets,” said Hunton from El Dorado Hills, Calif.
While the Threshers were not thrilled with how they got their win, they are happy that they were able to pull it off and know that they have it in them to move forward and improve in the future, especially with the heart that they showed in Saturday’s match versus Evangel.
The Threshers’ next matchup comes against rival Tabor in Hillsboro on Wednesday with the first serve scheduled for 7 p.m.