LATROBE, Pa. - The Bethany College women's volleyball team opened the 2025 season at the Bearcat Challenge hosted by Saint Vincent (Pa.) College where they went 1-2 including their first win of the season against Waynesburg (Pa.) University for first-year head coach
Riley Felton's first career win in the Robert S. Carey Center.
Despite falling to Penn State University-Behrend (4-0) and Westminster (Pa.) College (3-1) in straight sets on Friday, Bethany (1-2) came out strong on Saturday with a five-set win over Presidents' Athletic Conference rival Waynesburg (0-4). The win marked the first of the season for the Bison and the first as head coach for
Felton. As a member of the Bison,
Felton won over 75 games including going 9-0 against Waynesburg in her playing career.
Felton's latest win over the Yellow Jackets marks the first of her head coaching career with many more to come.
After the Challenge, senior Academic All-PAC middle blocker
Averie Braymer (Saegertown, Pa.) was named to the weekend's All-Tournament Team
vs. Penn State-Behrend
- Senior Academic All-PAC libero Andie Clark (Columbus, Ind./Hauser) led the defense with 12 digs and served up one ace
- Junior Academic All-PAC setter Emma Egan (Pittsburgh, Pa./Seton LaSalle) notched her first assist as a Bison and finished with three on the day while adding seven digs
- Sophomore middle blocker Ashton Thomas (Toronto, Ohio) led the team with four kills and two solo blocks
- Braymer added three kills, two digs, one block, and one ace
- Freshman outside hitter Isabella Poppelriter (Wellsville, Ohio) tallied three kills in her first collegiate game
- Freshman setter Grace Padavick (Cleveland, Ohio/Padua Franciscan) recorded her first three assists and a kill while freshmen Analesa Perdue (Steubenville, Ohio), and Maddie Miller (Bellaire, Ohio) each made their collegiate debuts
vs. Westminster
- Thomas recorded a team-high eight kills on .400 hitting with one block
- Padavick and Egan each led the team by assisting nine times
- Clark added another nine digs to lead the team
- Poppelriter totaled four kills and four digs
- Braymer added five kills
- Perdue recorded her first kill and finished with three kills and three digs
- Freshman middle blocker Layla Smith (Lakewood, Ohio) made her collegiate debut where she finished with a kill and a dig
vs. Waynesburg
- Braymer posted the first double-double of the year with a weekend-high 15 kills and 10 digs while also adding four aces
- Clark ended up with her first career 30+ dig game as she finished with 31, five assists, and three aces
- In just her second career game, Smith recorded 12 kills while hitting .455 and added six digs
- Padavick and Egan both tallied 20+ assists with 28 and 21, respectively
- Senior Academic All-PAC outside hitter Lesley Sanchez (Lorain, Ohio/Elyria Catholic) was the fourth Bison in double figures with 10 kills and two digs
- Thomas added 13 kills to her big offensive weekend
- Poppelriter finished with a statline of 22 digs, eight kills, and four aces
- Senior outside hitter JaSona Belyeu (McKeesport, Pa.) contributed 13 digs to the Green and White's 101-dig match
The Bison are back in action on Wednesday, September 3 as they travel to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania to take on La Roche (Pa.) University at 7 p.m. on Scott Lang Court.
