GROVE CITY, Pa. -- The Grove City College volleyball team's bid for the Presidents' Athletic Conference title ended Thursday night with a 3-2 setback to visiting Bethany in the conference tournament semifinals at the Grove City College Arena. Bethany pulled out a 25-22, 23-25, 21-25, 25-21, 15-13 victory over the Wolverines (18-10).
Grove City trailed 10-6 in the fifth set but rallied to take an 11-10 lead. However, Bethany tied the match and then took the lead for good with consecutive serving aces.
Senior
Faith Keating (Troy, Mich./Troy) paced Grove City with a season-high 19 kills. Junior
Anna DeGraaf (Cranberry Township, Pa./Seneca Valley) recorded 11 kills and classmate
Grace Kim (Sanford, N.C./Homeschooled) posted nine kills.
Sophomore setter
Kennedy Kerr (East Grand Rapids, Mich./East Grand Rapids) recorded 24 assists and freshman setter
Brooklyn Wirebaugh (Medina, Ohio/Cuyahoga Valley Christian) set 20 assists.Â
DeGraaf served three aces and junior libero
Gabby Lucas (Butler, Pa./Butler) added a pair of aces.
Keating led Grove City's defensive effort with 29 digs. Lucas recorded 22 digs while Kerr chalked up a dozen digs. Kim (11) and DeGraaf (10) also reached double figures in digs.Â
DeGraaf and sophomore
Audrey Donnelly (Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio/Woodridge) both had three blocks. Keating added two blocks.Â
Keating moved into 10th place on Grove City's career list with 969 kills during Thursday's match.
Bethany will play Thiel in Saturday's tournament title match in Greenville.Â
Grove City will await a possible invitation to the Eastern College Athletic Conference Division III Championship Tournament. Those invitations will be announced early next week.