Nov. 7 – CRESTVIEW HILLS, Ky. – The Bethany College volleyball program (25-13) saw their run at a Presidents' Athletic Conference Championship come to an end as the dropped a 3-1 decision to Geneva College in the PAC Semifinals on Friday evening.
The Bison came out of the gates strong, putting together a 7-2 run, which included five-straight points, to open the contest. Four different players registered a kill in the run, which included two by senior Lynsie Mandt (Columbus, Ohio/Worthington Kilbourne).
Geneva would fight back, eventually tying the game at 8-8, before the Bison put together a four-point run fueled by back-to-back kills from setter Mackenzie Lauber (Mansfield, Ohio/Madison Mansfield), to take a 12-8 advantage. The game would be tied one more time at 13-13, before the Bison put together another 7-2 run. Consecutive kills by Dylana McKenzie (Hopewell, Ohio/West Muskingum) gave the Green & White a 20-15 advantage, and they went on to take the set by a 25-19 score.
Set two went the Golden Tornadoes way, despite the game seeing six ties and three lead changes. The final tie score came at 13-13, before Geneva would embark on a 12-3 run to knot the match up at one game apiece.
The Bison would show grit in set three, twice erasing at least a four-point deficit. Down 9-5 in the early stages of the game, Bethany put together four-straight points, including two kills by Arielle Sanders (Maple Heights, Ohio/Maple Heights) to tie the game at 9-9. Geneva would then go on a 6-1 run, to put the Bison down by five points, 15-10.
Once again, the Bison refused to quit, and pulled even with Geneva for the second time in the match, 17-17, with the help of two kills from Dakota McKenzie (Hopewell, Ohio/West Muskingum). However, Geneva would outscore the Green & White 8-6 the rest of the way, and take a 2-1 advantage by taking game three, 25-23.
The deciding game four saw the Golden Tornadoes jump out to a four-point advantage early, 10-6. The Bison would get as close as two points (15-13) on a kill by Dakota McKenzie, but a 5-0 run would give Geneva a 20-13 advantage, a lead they would not relinquish. Ultimately the Bison fell in game four, 25-19, and the match, 3-1.
Offensively in the match the Bison were led by Dylana and Dakota Mckenzie. Dylana finished the match with 18 kills and just four errors while hitting .424 in the contest. Dakota, the conference's leader in kills, finished with 10 kills in the match, while Sanders totaled seven. Lauber finished the contest with 38 assists.
Defensively, the Bison totaled 63 digs, led by sophomore Haley Santymire (Clifton, Va./Centreville) who totaled 13. Libero Julia Mouch (Toledo, Ohio/Sylvania Southview) and senior Kelly Becquet (Finleyville, Pa./Ringgold) totaled 12 and 10 digs, respectively.
The Bison finished the season with 25 wins, marking the fifth-consecutive season that the Green & White have posted at least 24 wins in a season.
The Golden Tornadoes will move on to the Championship game to take on the host Saints of Thomas More College on Saturday. Thomas More defeated Thiel College, 3-1, in the other semifinal of the evening.
