ST. PAUL, Minn. – The Macalester College volleyball team defeated Bethany Lutheran College in three sets, 25-17, 25-18, 28-26 in a non-conference match Wednesday night in the Leonard Center. The victory gives the Scots a 4-5 record on the season, while the Vikings fall to 1-6.
In the first set, Macalester trailed 10-5 before battling back to tie the score four different times, including 16-16. Kills by first years
Channing Smith (River Forest, Ill./Oak Park River Forest) and
Siennah Calkins (Tomahawk, Wis./Tomahawk) helped the Scots take the lead, 20-16 before claiming a 25-17 win, capped by a kill by Smith. Smith, junior outside hitter
Adonia Anene (North Hollywood, Calif./The Buckley School) and first year outside hitter
Maxine Holmes (San Francisco, Calif./Lick-Wilmerding) each had two kills in the set.
The second set saw the Scots control play early in building a big lead, 18-9. Bethany Lutheran fought back to reduce the deficit to three, 19-16, only to have Macalester record five kills down the stretch in a 25-18 triumph. Sophomore right side
Danielle Oji (Katy, Texas/Obra D. Tompkins) put away four kills to lead the Scots.
Momentum stayed with the home team into the third set, as Macalester opened with a 10-1 run and led 12-3. As they did in the second set, the Vikings came back, eventually tying the score at 16-16 with a 13-4 run. The Scots had match point at 24-21, but Bethany Lutheran came back to tie score at 24-24. Holmes registered kills to give Macalester match point at 25-24 and 26-25, but each time the Vikings answered. With the score knotted at 26-26, back-to-back kills by Anene and Oji gave the Scots a 28-26 win in the set to complete the sweep.
Macalester tallied 12 service aces, including five from junior outside hitter
Ella Cohen-Richie (Chicago, Ill./Univ. of Chicago Laboratory Schools) and three from first year defensive specialist
Morgan Stone (Colorado Springs, Colo./Liberty). Anene and Oji each had eight kills, Smith delivered seven kills and Holmes finished with five kills. Holmes also had three blocks, while Calkins notched five blocks. Senior setter
Hannah Morrow (Raleigh, N.C./Millbrook) dished out 15 assists and led the Scots with 12 digs, while junior libero
Lizzie Joo (San Jose, Calif./Valley Christian) contributed 10 digs.
Macalester heads to Dubuque, Iowa to play in the Loras Tournament on Sept. 18-19. The Scots face Wartburg on Friday at 5:00 p.m. before playing the host Duhawks at 11:00 a.m. and North Central College at 1:00 p.m. on Saturday.
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