The Lady Bearcats defeated Bethany College 3-1 in a Sunday matinee in the Robert S. Carey Center, extending their winning streak to six.

Scores were 25-16, 16-25, 25-17, and 29-27. 

In the opening set, the Lady Bearcats came out strong, using a 10-2 run midway through, capped off with back-to-back Natalie Hozak kills, to open up a 15-5 lead.  

SVC's advantage continued to grow, with a Hozak ace putting the Lady Bearcats up 19-7, and then a Diana Petrovich spike making the score 22-8.  Bethany attempted to rally late, but the deficit was too large to overcome, and the Lady Bearcats won the opening game 25-16.

The fortunes were reversed in the second set, as Bethany jumped out to a 16-6 lead after scoring eight straight points. The Lady Bearcats were able to trim the deficit to eight - 21-13 - before the Bison pulled away for the 25-16 win.

In the third set, the Lady Bearcats found themselves down early by scores of 9-6 and 13-11, but stormed back, with a block by Hozak putting SVC up 15-14, the team's first lead in the set since an early 5-3 advantage. 

From there, the Lady Bearcats seized the momentum, with Hozak cashing in on a pair of kills and Dawn Timko tallying a block and an ace, to put the hosts up 2-1 in the match with the 25-17 victory.

In the fourth set, the Lady Bearcats jumped to an early 3-0 lead on a Hozak ace, but the Bison refused to go away, fighting back to eventually take a 10-9 lead.  Saint Vincent was able to tie the set on four different occasions, but the Lady Bearcats were unable to regain the lead until another ace from Timko gave SVC a 23-22 advantage.

Again, the Bison fought back, quickly tying the set at 23, before going being on the verge three times of winning the set, as they had leads of 25-24, 26-25, and 27-26.  SVC refused to give up the game point, and after a Taylor Guido spike tied the set at 27, another kill by Timko allowed the Lady Bearcats to regain the lead at 28-27.  On the ensuing rally, a Bethany kill attempt went long, giving SVC the set 29-27 and the match 3-1.

Petrovich and Guido led the SVC offense on the day, posting 15 and 13 kills, respectively, while Timko enjoyed a solid all-around match, with seven kills, five blocks, and three aces.   Rachel Pace was also strong up front, posting four blocks, while Devin McGrath dished out 46 assists.

With the win, the Lady Bearcats improve to 13-6 on the season.  The team returns to action on Wednesday night, hosting Washington & Jefferson College at 7pm in the Robert S. Carey Center. 

PHOTO (By John Woodruff): SVC's Natalie Hozak puts down a kill in the third set of the Lady Bearcats' 3-1 win over Bethany College.