MANKATO, Minn. - The Martin Luther College volleyball team dropped its first round match in the UMAC Postseason Tournament 3-2 (27-25, 28-30, 25-23, 23-25, 15-8) at Bethany Lutheran College (BLC) on Thursday.

The Vikings fought off three MLC set points to take the first game 27-25, but the Knights roared back and outlasted them 30-28 in the second set to tie the match at 1-1. 

After BLC won another close third set, MLC overcame a late 19-17 deficit to take the fourth game 25-23 to force a deciding fifth set.

In the fifth and final game, BLC built a 7-6 early lead, and then closed the match by taking eight of the final ten points to secure the win.

The Knights were able to take advantage of BLC miscues for much of the night, as the Vikings finished with 47 attack errors and 12 serving errors. MLC hit .047 on the attack, with Kelsey Birschbach leading the way with 12 kills to go with her match-best 23 digs. 

Hannah Willems added ten kills and three blocks, while Kylie Wolf finished with 18 assists, two service aces and 10 digs. 

Kate Aswege recorded 17 digs, giving her 996 for her career. She is now just four digs shy of becoming the 11th player in program history with at least 1,000 career digs.

MLC fell to 4-7 on the season in defeat. BLC improved to 4-5 with the win.

The Knights will conclude their season on Saturday, April 10, when they travel to Northland College for the seventh-place game. That match is scheduled to start at 7 p.m.