MANKATO, Minn. – The Bethany Lutheran volleyball team Tuesday night dropped a five-set battle with Martin Luther College 3-2. With the loss the Vikings fall to 5-14 overall and 2-6 in the UMAC while the Knights move to 6-13 overall and 4-3 in the conference.

As things kicked off in the first set of this one, Bethany made their presence felt as they started the game on an 8-3 run capped off by a Kate Maag kill. MLC would fight back and close the deficit to one at 10-9 before the Vikings would rattle off 10 straight on the service of Maag to gain a 20-9 cushion. The Knights would get a few late before Bethany closed out the set at 25-12.

The Knights rebounded in the second frame jumping out to an 8-2 lead before Bethany would make a run and used five straight points to take a 14-12 lead midway through the set. MLC would answer the run with one of their own, scoring eight of the next nine points to take a 20-15 lead and Bethany couldn't fight their way back in as the Knights took the second 25-20.

In the third frame, the Vikings would once again control the set from start to finish. They would get out to an early 11-4 lead and eventually extend it to 16-8 before finishing things off 25-15.

The fourth set played more even than the first three, with the two teams trading punches early. Neither team would gain more than a two-point advantage until things were tied at 16-16 and Martin Luther would rattle off three straight for the largest lead of the set. Bethany would respond with two in a row to cut the deficit to one point before the Knights scored six of the last seven to take the fourth and send things to the decisive fifth set.

Paloma Garcia De Fuentes opened the serving in the fifth and the junior helped the Vikings rattle off seven straight points to take an early lead. The Knights didn't give in though, as they would score the next four points before eventually battling back further and evening things at 10 apiece. The teams would each score three more points to tie things at 13 before the Knights took point 14 to send it to match point. With the match on the line, Lexiss Trygg would power home two straight kills to give Bethany a shot at match point with the score at 15-14. MLC however, would answer with a pair of kills before an attacking error from the Vikings gave them the match win.

In the loss, the Vikings outhit the Knights, attacking .177 as a team as opposed to .142 from Martin Luther. Bethany also had seven service aces in the match to just one from MLC, but the visitors would tally 11 total blocks with the Vikings claiming just two.

Trygg had another big match for the Vikings, totaling 17 kills on a .286 attack percentage, while Maag and Maddie Diveley had 12 kills apiece. Garcia de Fuentes quarterbacked the Bethany attack as she dished out 45 set assists, while Maddi Wendland led the back row with 16 digs.
 
The Vikings now have some time off before their next match as they will next be in action at Crown on Friday, October 20^th.