NEW ULM, Minn. – The Bethany Lutheran volleyball team Tuesday fell in its conference opener 3-1 to Martin Luther. With the loss the Vikings fall to 3-8 overall while the Knights move to 3-10.

The Knights showed up to play in this one, starting the game off on a 12-3 run to take control of the match early. Bethany would fight back and cut the deficit to 13-9 before MLC re-extended their lead to 24-16. With Femke Peters on the serve, Bethany was able to rattle off six straight points but MLC would close things out at 25-22.

Bethany would get out to an 8-7 start in the second set before the Knights started to get rolling offensively. They would go on a 14-5 run, pushing the lead to 21-13 before the Vikings were able to halt the run with two straight points. The two teams then traded points before MLC scored two straight after leading 23-17 to claim the second set.

The Vikings showed up to play in the third, flying out to a 7-1 lead that they would extend to 10-3 a few points later. Martin Luther would score two straight to cut the deficit to five, but Bethany would extend their lead back to six and never lead by less than that number as they rolled to a set win 25-18.

Set four in this one was a doozy, as the teams went shot for shot the entire set in a 28-26 MLC set win to claim them the match. Each team went on multiple runs at the beginning of the fourth set before they were eventually tied at 17 apiece. The two teams went point for point until MLC broke a 20-20 stalemate with three straight points to gain the late advantage. Bethany would answer with three straight of their own, thanks largely in part to two huge kills from Kate Maag. With things tied at 23, the teams then went back-and-forth until the Vikings scored two straight to lead 26-25. MLC would once again answer, scoring three straight points to claim the set 28-26 and the match 3-1.

Lexiss Trygg had a big night tallying 13 kills on a .278 hitting percentage to lead the Vikings, while Paloma Garcia De Fuentes dished out 24 assists. Defensively, four players had double digit digs for Bethany with Maddi Wendland claiming a team-high 23.

Bethany will next be in action on Saturday when they take on No. 6 Northwestern at 1 p.m. in St. Paul