YORK, Neb. — York (8-17, 2-9) lost to Bethel College (11-8, 8-2) 3-0 on Tuesday. The Panthers were held to 28 kills and a .110 hitting percentage, while the Threshers finished with 45 kills and hit .383.
York fought back from a slow start to tie the opening set at 20-20 on consecutive
Ambar Ortiz service aces, but the Threshers answered with the final five points to take the set 25-20. Earlier, the Panthers won seven of eight rallies to move from a 12-5 deficit to within 13-12, with
Ronan Merriex,
Florencia Felmer and
Meadow Nusbaum all contributing points during the push.
York could not recover from the Threshers' early separation in the second set, with Bethel moving ahead 10-4 and later scoring three straight points after a Panthers timeout to make it 17-10. York's late push included back-to-back kills by Merriex and a kill by
Emma Kerley from Nusbaum to move from 24-13 to 24-16. Bethel closed the set 25-16.
The Panthers fell behind 5-0 to start the third set and could not erase the early gap in a 25-16 set loss to the Threshers. Felmer put York on the board with a kill from Ortiz, and Ortiz added an ace on the next Panthers serve before
Jassania Joseph,
Madilyn De La Garza, Kerley and Merriex also recorded kills. York's final points came on a Bethel service error and a Merriex kill from Nusbaum before Bethel closed the set.
Merriex led the Panthers with 10 kills, hit .316 and added a block assist. Nusbaum finished with 22 assists, two service aces, two digs and a block assist. Ortiz recorded four service aces while adding three digs and two assists. De La Garza collected a team-high 12 digs.
Up next, York hosts Oklahoma Wesleyan at noon Saturday, Oct. 31, in York, Neb for senior day.
