MANKATO, Minn. - The Bethany Lutheran volleyball team Saturday afternoon hosted Minnesota Morris in an intense five set match in which they fell to UMM 3-2. With the victory the Cougars move to 13-9 overall and 8-2 in the UMAC while the Vikings fall to 12-13 overall and 4-6 in the conference. 

The service of Kylie Smidt helped propel the Vikings in the first, as they would mount a 9-0 run on her service for the early 12-6 lead. The Cougars would close the gap late in the set as they would shrink the deficit to 19-18, but Bethany would score six of the last seven thanks in part to three kills from Maddie Meyer to take the 25-19 win. 

Morris would gain an 11-9 lead midway through the second set and it was one they just slowly built upon throughout the frame as they would take it 25-20 to even the match at 1-1.

The third featured multiple runs from both teams, as they would trade leads in the early goings of the set. Trailing 13-11, the Vikings would claw back to take an 18-16 lead but Morris would answer with three straight to go up 19-18. Bethany would answer with two of their own but the Cougars would score six of the last eight to claim the set 25-22. 

Set number four played in Morris' favor early as they led 9-8, but the Bethany attack would get rolling from there. They would outscore the Cougars 17-5 the remainder of the set as they would cruise to a set win to even the match and send it to a deciding fifth set. 

After claiming a 5-4 lead to open the final frame, Morris would tally five straight points to go up 10-4. Back-to-back service aces from Bethany's Avery Carlson a few points later would trim the deficit to 10-7, but the Cougars would close it out late and take it 15-9 for the match win. 

Meyer led the Vikings in this one with 14 kills on just 28 attacks to hit .464, while Lexiss Trygg and Lilly Mehrkens had 13 kills apiece. Abby Distad dished out 43 set assists in the match to lead the team while Kylie Smidt had 20 digs in the back row. Carlson had a big match on the serve, as she posted five aces in the match to set a new career high.

The Vikings will now be back in action next weekend, when they travel to Northwestern on Friday night for a 7 p.m. contest.