The Bethel University volleyball team opened MIAC conference play Wednesday night by defeating the St. Olaf College Oles in a five-set game – the team’s first five-set this season. 

After the very first point of the game, St. Olaf suffered its first injury of the night, rendering starting senior and outside hitter Maycie Rogers incapacitated for the rest of the game.

The two teams were seemingly equally matched, but Bethel took an early lead of 6-4 with kills from sophomore middle blocker Peyton Howie and junior outside hitter Grace Solberg before the team began trading points. The teams tied up three separate times before a kill from Howie pushed Bethel into the lead again. After more back and forth, Bethel fell behind, 22-19, until a kill from Solberg propelled them to a 25-23 win.

The second set took off at a much faster pace with Howie getting a kill on the first play, setting the team up for an early lead of 7-3. A kill from freshman Hannah Penke propelled Bethel to a 9-3 lead. 

The crowd at this point in the night began to get louder and rowdier with the excitement of a quick win seemingly at hand. The Oles began to close the gap once again before Bethel made five consecutive points, moving to a score of 16-9. Back-to-back kills from Howie and Solberg pushed Bethel forward into another win of 25-15.

With a ten-point set win under its belt and  dreams of a quick, three-set win seemingly in Bethel’s future, set three took the game in a drastic new direction. For a third time, Bethel took a lead of 4-0 with the help of a kill from Howie and held it until the Oles closed the gap at 6-6. Bethel tied up with the Oles three times in the next six sets before losing the lead completely for the rest of the set. Bethel lost the third set 25-16, forcing the team into a fourth set.

“The third set was the most frustrating because we had just played so well in the first two,” coach Gretchen Hunt said, “I was like, ‘What’s going on? All the wheels are falling off at once.’”

The frustration of losing became palpable not only for the team but for the crowd as well, and a tense defiance settled over the crowd, replacing the rowdiness from before with a sort of focus and determination. 

Penke gained two kills early on to even Bethel up with the Oles at 4-4 quickly, yet Bethel fell behind until a kill from Howie matched them up again at 12-12. Bethel then fell behind once more and did not gain a lead for the rest of the fourth set, pushing Bethel and the Oles into a thrilling fifth and final tiebreaker, making this Bethel’s first five-set game of the season. With the Oles winning two of their three five-sets just last weekend, this game became even more stressful.

“I was nervous that we would go to five,” Hunt said. “I felt like they had way more experience than us.”

Even though Bethel lost the fourth game, the crowd seemed to gain its mojo back going into a fifth set, excitement building in the audience. The Oles began with the lead in the fifth set before kills from Solberg and sophomore Ellie Van Namen put Bethel in the lead 6-4 before losing their lead 10-7. 

Bethel and the Oles then fell back into their dance of leading and tying up with each other. The Oles called a time-out with the score tied at 14s.. The crowd began cheering as Bethel’s players rejoined the court and the last plays began. The teams tied up twice more at 15-15 and 16-16 before finally, Bethel took a two-point lead over the Oles, winning the fifth set and the game at 18-16. With this win in the MIAC opener, Bethel’s record now sits at 8-3.

Bethel hopes to continue their win streak as they travel to Washington D.C. to compete in multiple games starting with a game against Gallaudet University on Friday at 3 p.m. EST.