In the first game, the Lady Crusaders (34-10), who are making their 10th national tournament appearance with an all-time tournament mark of 24-18, scored the first three points and maintained a slim lead all the way to 19-17. Then, MVNU (39-3) got four straight blocks by senior middle hitter Shena Beheler (left) (two solo and two assists) as the Lady Cougars took a 21-19.

Following a sideout, MVNU rattled off five consecutive points to expand its lead to 26-20 as freshman middle hitter Jackie Albrecht pounded two kills and Beheler added a kill. Madonna pulled within 28-27, but a kill by sophomore setter Kaylin Austin and another kill by junior outside hitter Audrey Hickinbotham gave the Lady Cougars a 30-27 victory.

In the second game, MVNU jumped out to an early 10-6 lead as Beheler, Albrecht, and sophomore outside hitter Courtney Springer each had two kills apiece. After the Lady Crusaders rattled off four straight points to knot the score at 10-10, the Lady Cougars answered with four consecutive points to regain the lead 14-10.

With MVNU leading 19-16, Madonna scored six straight points to move in front 22-19. A kill by Hickinbotham closed the gap to 22-10, but the Lady Crusaders pushed their lead to 25-21. Beheler registered a kill and a block to pull within 25-23, but Madonna finished the game on a 5-1 run to take the game 30-24.

After trailing 5-2 early in the third game, Hickinbotham smashed four kills and Springer added a pair of kills to give the Lady Cougars an 11-9 lead. The two teams traded the next 19 points with MVNU holding a 21-18 advantage. However, just as they did late in the second game, the Lady Crusaders used a 5-0 run to go in front 23-21.

The Lady Cougars were able to knot the score at 23-23 on kills by Albrecht and Beheler, but MVNU was unable to regain the lead as Madonna held on for a 30-27 victory to go in front 2-1 in games.

The Lady Cougars did not give up, though, as MVNU built a 15-9 lead to start the fourth game. The Lady Crusaders began chipping away at the lead, but the Lady Cougars were able to weather the storm this time and avoided giving up more than a three-point run at any time in this game as Beheler helped force a fifth and deciding game with eight kills alone in the fourth game as MVNU won 30-28.

Madonna took an early 3-1 lead and still led 7-5 before the Lady Cougars were able to knot the score at 7-7 in the fifth game. Three straight points by the Lady Crusaders made it a 10-7 deficit for MVNU, but a block by Albrecht and a kill by sophomore middle hitter Stephanie Zollars helped the Lady Cougars close the game to 11-10. However, that would be as close as MVNU would get as Madonna prevailed 15-11 to take the match.

“This was a great match between two evenly-matched teams,” said MVNU head coach Paul Swanson. “A bounce here or a touch there and the match could have gone differently. I thought that we played hard and did a good job of battling back. We were just not consistent enough in the little things to beat a good team like Madonna.”

Beheler finished with 25 kills to become the school’s all-time leader in that category with 2,733 to pass former Lady Cougar standout Tara Seiter, who had 2,728. Beheler also added nine blocks, while senior libero Tiffany Milburn (right) posted 33 digs to become the program’s career leader in that category with 2,520 digs to break the mark of 2,519 set previously by Amanda Stevens. Albrecht and Springer pounded 16 and 15 kills respectively, and Hickinbotham tallied 12 kills. Austen handed out 61 assists as she and Springer also had nine digs apiece.

MVNU will return to action on Thursday with two more pool play matches when the Lady Cougars will take on Olivet Nazarene (Ill.) University at 9:00 a.m. CST and third-seeded Concordia (Calif.) University at 6:00 p.m. CST.