LATROBE, Pa. (Oct. 28) - The visiting Bethany Bison spoiled the Saint Vincent women's volleyball team's home finale, defeating the Bearcats 3-0.

Set scores were 25-19, 25-20 and 25-19.

Carly Augustine led Saint Vincent with nine kills, while Jessica Hughes added six. Playing at the libero spot for the first time this season, Luciana Polk totaled 20 digs to lead both sides, with Hughes adding 12. Caitlyn Figuly paced SVC with two blocks, while Sara Ellis dished a team-best 15 assists. The Bearcats totaled a season-high 10 aces in the match, led by four by Olivia Persin and two apiece from Hughes and Nicolena Yanosick.

The Bison scored the first three points in the opening set, but the Bearcats would chip away at the deficit in the early stages of the set, with an Augustine kill and back-to-back aces from Persin tying the set at 6-6. Moments later, the Bearcats grabbed a 9-8 lead following a Bethany attack error and Hughes' first ace of the night. The Bison then got hot, scoring 10 of the next 13 points to open up an 18-12 lead. Trailing 20-13, Saint Vincent would counter with a lengthy run of its own. A kill from Lindsey Kocjancic cut the gap to 20-15, before another Hughes ace followed by a Becca Miller spike pulled the Bearcats to within 21-19. Following a time out, however, the Bison would score the set's final four points, taking advantage of an SVC service error and a pair of attack errors, to close out the 25-19 set win.

The Bearcats surged out of the gate in the second set, opening up a 4-0 lead after three kills from Hughes and one from Augustine. Hughes' fourth kills of the set opened up a 5-1 lead, before Persin notched aces on back-to-back serves to push SVC out to a 7-1 advantage. The SVC lead hovered between 5-6 points over the next few serves, before the Bison countered with an extended run to eventually tie the set at 11-all. The Bearcats responded with four straight points, including an Augustine kill and an ace from Persin, to gain a 15-11 lead, but Bethany countered with a 9-3 run to take a 20-18 lead. Augustine and Figuly teamed up for a block to pull the Bearcats to within one, 21-20, but as they did in set one, Bethany ended the set with four straight points to win it 25-20. Hughes led both sides with five kills during the second set, while Polk was busy on defense, totaling eight digs.

The third set began in the same fashion as the second, with the Bearcats surging out to a 5-0 lead, with two kills from Augustine, one from Hughes and two Yanosick aces. The tide quickly turned, as Bethany answered with five unanswered points to tie it, but Augustine's third kill of the set quickly put the Bearcats back in front, 8-6. The Bison scored the next two points to force another tie, before they opened up a 13-10 lead. The Bearcats answered with a Vivian Poach kill and a Kocjancic ace to make it a one-point game, but the Bison used a 7-3 run to jump out to a 20-15 lead. The Bearcats slowly cut into the lead, pulling to within 22-19 after kills from Kocjancic, Polk and Miller, but they would get no closer, as Bethany scored the final three points to close out the set and the match.

With its fourth straight win, Bethany improves to 15-10 overall and 12-5 in Presidents' Athletic Conference play, while the Bearcats drop to 8-17 overall and 5-12 in league play.

Saint Vincent will now close out the 2021 season on Saturday, Oct. 30, traveling to PAC rival Washington & Jefferson for a 2 p.m. match.