Hot Start Comes Up Short, Wildcats Fall in Five Sets at (RV) Benedictine

ATCHISON, Kan. - Coming within a set of its second conference win of the season, Baker volleyball couldn't hold off a surging Ravens squad as the Wildcats fell to (RV) Benedictine, 3-2 in a five-set heartbreaker on Friday night.

BU took the first two sets in Atchison, Kan. on matching scores of 25-23, but the Ravens swung the momentum with a 25-18 win in set three, a double-digit win in set four (25-14) and a 15-6 victory in set five to complete the comeback.

Aby Widhalm led the Wildcats with 11 kills, while adding eight digs, and Meredith Brown and Taryn Dial each totaled nine kills. Kierstyn Harmon recorded her second double-double of the season with 21 assists and a season-high 15 digs.

After averaging over seven aces per match coming into the game, Baker was held to just one ace against the Eagles with Harmon lacing one in the third set.

The Wildcats got off to a good start in the opening set with kills by Widhalm and Olivia Deichmann giving them an early four-point lead. After the Ravens tied things up midway through, Brown added an attack to keep BU in front, but the set drew even again at 20-20. Harmon and Brown each notched a kill and a couple of BC errors resulted in Baker winning set one, 25-23.

In the second set, the Wildcats got rolling once again, boasting kills from five different hitters, while a tandem block from Deichmann and Widhalm brought the score to 8-4 in BU's favor. Benedictine came right back with its own mini rally to keep the set level before back-to-back kills from Kierra Hipple saw the Wildcats take a two-point advantage. Hipple closed out the frame with another kill to put BU up 2-0 with its second straight 25-23 win.

It was the Ravens who took control early in set three, going up 13-8 before stretching their lead out to eight points. Widhalm came through with three kills to get the Wildcats back within four, but Benedictine won three straight points to earn its first victory of the night.

In set four, BC stormed out for the second straight time to go up 10-3 before Kylie Murray snapped the run on her fifth kill of the night. The Wildcats made it a four-point game with a couple of kills by Brown sandwiched around a dump by Emma Grossoehme. The Ravens rattled off five unanswered points and claimed four of the final five points of the set to force a fifth.

Stout and Brown opened up the decisive set with a block to give the first points to BU, but the Ravens quickly went up by five to trigger a timeout from Baker. Kills by Stout and Murray inched the Wildcats closer before BC finished off its comeback with three straight points.

With six of their eight wins coming by way of a sweep, it was just the second time this season the Wildcats went to five sets after also ending up on the wrong end of a five-set match at Friends back in late August.

Falling to 8-5 on the year, Baker will return to friendly confines on Tuesday, Oct. 1 to face Missouri Valley at 7 p.m. in the Collins Center for the first of back-to-back home matches.

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