GREENVILLE, Pa. — The Tomcat women's volleyball team held serve on their home floor and moved their record at Beeghly Gymnasium to 7-1 after defeating Bethany College 3-1 (25-11; 25-19; 15-25; 26-24) on Saturday night in Greenville.
 
Thiel (15-8; 10-4 PAC) shot out of the gates quickly in the first set jumping out to a quick 11-5 lead before the Bison called a timeout. The timeout proved ineffective for Bethany as Thiel kept the momentum by closing out the first set on a 14-6 run to take set one 25-11. Alyssa Chine (North Jackson, Ohio/Jackson Milton) and Kelly Barzak (Warren, Ohio/Howland) were the focal points in set one as they totaled five and four kills respectively in the set.
 
In set two, an ace by Lauren Downs (Mentor, OH/Mentor HS) capped a 3-0 run to start the set, and the Tomcats used that momentum to cruise to a 25-19 win in set two. During the set, the Tomcats never trailed, but with the game close at 15-13, the Thiel went on a 10-4 run to end the set.
 
Thiel got out fast once again in set three as Leanna Yeager (Poland, Ohio/Poland Seminary) made a big block to give the Tomcats the first point of the set. After Bethany tied the set at 1-1, Thiel went on a 5-0 run that was capped by a Barzak kill to make the score 6-1. With the Tomcats up 8-2, Bethany went on a 7-0 run to take their first lead of the night at 9-8. Behind senior Megan Hoffman, the Bison put together another run, this time 8-0, and Bethany took game three 25-15.
 
The teams played the fourth set very close and with the Tomcats down 22-21, the upperclassmen came up big as two kills from Alyssa Chine (North Jackson, Ohio/Jackson Milton), as well as a block and a kill from Barzak gave Thiel the 26-24 victory and the 3-1 win, handing the Bison just their second conference loss of the year.
 
“This team is certainly moving in the right direction, but I do not think we've peaked yet; we've got expectations for these women and this program, and while we're taking some pretty good steps our goals, we just aren't there yet. Honestly though, I don't think we were playing our best volleyball towards the end of the match. That's a team you just can't make errors against or give free balls to,” said head coach Steve Brewer.
 
Chine once again led the way for the Tomcats as she registered 17 kills on the day. Kay and Barzak also recorded double digit kills as they had 15 and 12 kills respectively. Downs anchored the defense with 16 digs and Chine added 14 in the victory.
 
Thiel will once again be in action on Wednesday the 19^th when they travel to New Wilmington, Pa. to take on the Titans of Westminster. The contest is scheduled for a 7 p.m. start time.