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Bellefonte volleyball defeats Somerset in thrilling, five-set home opener

By KENNY VARNER 4 min read

BELLEFONTE – What a way to make their home debut.

On Tuesday night, the Bellefonte girls volleyball team hosted Somerset. This contest was not for the faint of heart as the two teams battled back and forth throughout the night before the Lady Raiders muscled out a hard fought thrilling five-set victory (25-20, 19-25, 28-26, 23-25, 15-12).

"It was nice, to see them battle, to see them have to overcome adversity," said Bellefonte volleyball head coach Dan Kreiger. "I think there’s opportunities for us to get better there and clean up some of our errors, but adversity is a good thing, especially early in the season. So, I’m happy to see them overcome that and get a win for themselves in their home opener."

Tied at two set apiece going into the fifth and deciding set, Bellefonte got the first point when Mati Hepfer smoked a return shot down the line, giving her team the ball and the side out point. The Golden Eagles returned the favor with a side out of their own to tie things at 1-1.

Somerset's Allison Diamond picked up a service point when teammate Kaycee Stairs spiked the ball into the middle.

Bellefonte and Somerset exchanged two service points each with the Golden Eagles taking a 4-3 advantage. That would be the beginning of a mini run by Somerset with Stairs at the service line. She notched three consecutive service points. Two of those points came from two blocks by Thressa Ledney.

Trailing 7-3, Bellefonte called a time out. The time out was successful as the team regrouped a took the momentum for the first time in the fifth set.

After a blast by Colbie Frailey to give the Raiders the ball back.

With the ball and trailing 7-4, Bellefonte made its march back.

Braelyn Mingle hit three consecutive service points, two of which were aces gave the home team a tie at seven. And after a side out point by the Golden Eagles, the Red Raiders tied things and took the lead at 9-8 on a service point by Colbie Frailey.

Tied at nine, the Red Raiders again made their move. This time, Delaney Gray was at the service line. She would hit on four consecutive service points highlighted by an ace.

When the dust settled off the serve, Bellefonte put themselves in a good spot leading 13-10. That would be all they would need as they fended off a late Somerset run to capture the victory 15-12.

In the opening contest, the Red Raiders started out strong as they were able post a 25-20 victory to capture the first set. Somerset came rolling back in the second game as they were able to tie the contest at 1-1.

The thriller of the night came in the third set as neither team wanted to take the loss and it would go into extra points before the Lady Raiders would take the 28-26 victory. Somerset forced a game five as they were able to outlast Bellefonte in another close match 25-23.

"We’re two matches into our regular season, and we got two five-set wins. So, I made a comment to make sure they understood that you could win in three," said Kreiger. "You don’t have to wait till five.”

But yeah, I think it’s an important component, and I think that that leads to being battle tested down the road. So, I’m hopeful that we don’t need to dwell on anything negative about it. A win is a win is a win, right?” he continued.

Bellefonte is back in action Thursday as they play Chestnut Ridge.

Bellefonte 3, Somerset 2

Somerset 20 25 26 25 12

Bellefonte 25 19 28 23 15

Starting at /week.