Northfield, Minn. - The Bethany Vikings started out the season at the St. Olaf Invitational. All four matches the Vikings played were against MIAC teams.

The weekend started out against Hamline with BLC falling in four games, 16-25, 27-25, 23-25, 18-25.

The Vikings could have come out stronger, but senior Klea Swenson (Nicollet, Minn./Nicollet) said in the end, “we came together as a team, and now we just have to work on figuring out the little things.”

Senior Amanda Edmison (Mayer, Minn./Watertown-Mayer) and freshman Shelby Wiederhoeft (Truman, Minn./Truman) led the team with 10 kills each. “I went in, and did better than I thought I would for my first game.” Wiederhoeft said. Freshman Emily Franzen (Lewiston, Minn./Lewiston-Altura) and sophomore transfer Krissy Shemmel (Mankato, Minn./Riverland CC)had 10 and 12 assists respectively.

“We saw a lot of good things tonight,” Head Coach Sue Forrey said. “Our defense was good, but our communication could be better. We know the little things will make a difference, and that’s what we’re going to work on in the future.”

In the second game of the day BLC defeated Macalester in five sets, 3-2.

The next day BLC went 0-2 falling to host team St. Olaf in the first match. The Vikings did not come out as strong as they would have liked to, and lost the game 11-25. The second game the Vikings came back to win 25-22, but could not pull together another set win.

Edmison led the team with eight kills, and freshman Allie VanHee (Madelia, Minn./Madelia) added seven. The Vikings blocks couldn’t affect the Oles hits, with the Vikings only hitting 37 kills to St. Olaf's 47.

Sophomore Tayler Kahlow (Le Sueur, Minn./Le Sueur) had a good defensive game however, and was able to dig up 22 hits for the Vikings.

The second match was played against Carlton. The Vikings once again lost in four close games.

"We are still in the process of mixing people around and seeing who works well in what position," Coach Forrey said.