MANKATO, Minn. - The Bethany volleyball team hosted No. 3 Northwestern on Saturday afternoon and dropped the match by a score of 3-0 (25-19, 25-17, 25-14). With the loss the Vikings fall to 3-12 and 1-3 in the UMAC while the Eagles move to 15-1 and 5-0 in conference play.

"I thought we played a great match tonight," said Head Coach John Olmanson. "That's the No. 3 team in the country and we matched their tempo and our hitters were solid in getting their kills. They were just able to outlast us at the end and we came up a little short."

The Vikings came out of the gates strong, with Maddie Meyer, Rilee Hohbein, and Lexiss Trygg combining for seven kills in the early going as Northwestern held an 11-10 lead. The Vikings kept building momentum and after an errant pass from UNW found its way over the net, Hohbein would send it back into the hardwood to even things at 16. Northwestern would go on a 5-1 run after the kill by Hohbein and although Bethany would take two of the next three, the Eagles would close out the set by a score of 25-19.

Even after a tough first set, the Vikings came out strong again in the second. A handful of Eagle attack errors supplemented by kills from Trygg and Alexis Morsching would give the home team an early 7-1 lead. Northwestern would respond, going on a 7-0 run to regain the lead at 8-7. After a UNW service error evened things at eight, the visitors would score five of the next six to take a 13-9 lead. After three straight points by the Vikings to pull within one, the Eagles responded in a big way, scoring 12 of the last 17 points to take set two 25-17.

In the third and final set, Northwestern started to fire on all cylinders, as they took complete control, notching 14 kills and just three errors en route to a decisive 25-14 set win and 3-0 match victory. 

Meyer and Hohbein had strong matches for the Vikings, notching eight and seven kills, respectively, and both hitting above .333. Maddi Wendland and Morsching anchored the back row with 11 digs apiece, while Esther Peeters tallied a team-best 17 set assists.

Bethany will be back in action on Tuesday when they host North Central in a 7 p.m. contest.