Bishop volleyball drops 3-2 heartbreaker to Methodist

Rocky Mount, NC - For the second straight year, the Monarchs of Methodist College entered Everett Gymnasium and stole a 3-2 heartbreaker from North Carolina Wesleyan in USA South volleyball action.  Despite 24 and 21 kills from Brittany Insley and Sydney Bens, respectively, the Bishops dropped games one, three, and five by a total of seven points.  Game scores from the match were 34-32, 19-30, 30-28, 25-30, and 15-12.

Methodist is now 6-9 overall, 3-4 in league action.  Wesleyan drops to 4-13 on the season and remains winless in USA South play.

Though early in the match, game one may have proved to be the difference down the stretch as the Monarchs squeaked out a 34-32 victory.  Neither squad could forge more than a three-point lead en route to a 30-30 tie.  Once again, the two teams traded points until back-to-back kills from Kelsey Carter and Laura Gilbert ended the nail-biter and gave Methodist a 1-0 lead in the match.

The Bishops dominated game two by recording a .341 hitting percentage, earning a 30-19 win.

Game three was much like game one and went down to the wire.  The Bishops took a late 28-27 lead, but a Taylor Powers kills followed by two service points gave the Monarchs a 2-1 lead in the match.

Wesleyan battled back in game four with a 30-25 win to send the game to a deciding game five.  With Methodist holding a slim 8-7 lead at the exchange, an Insley kill tied the game for a final time.  The Monarchs responded with four straight points, and the Bishops would not recover.

Insley added 20 digs, while Bens finished with 19.  Senior April Wilson dominated at the net with eight blocks, while Caitlin George tallied a season-high 51 assists.  Senior libero Cristin Jones turned in a solid night defensively with a game, season, and career-high 21 digs.

For Methodist, Sara Yeatman had 19 kills and 16 digs.  Katy Flaherty and Tiffany Zellhart notched 25 and 22 assists, respectively.

The Bishops return to action on Thursday when they travel to Guilford College.  Game time is slated for 7:00 p.m. in Greensboro.