Staff photo by Steve Muscatello Martin Luther College’s Alyssa Heckendorf (12) spikes the ball past Mindy Poehler (5) of Bethany Lutheran College Tuesday at MLC in New Ulm.

NEW ULM — Bethany Lutheran College swept Martin Luther College 26-24, 25-20, 25-12 on Tuesday in Upper Midwest Athletic Conference volleyball action.

The first set was competitive with MLC leading for most of it. BLC battled back by taking advantage of a net serving error, an unforced error and tips by Haley Domonoske and Mindy Poehler tied it at 22-22.

MLC tied it again at 24-24 on a tip by Alyssa Heckendorf. MLC knocked the ball out of bounds and a miscue gave the Vikings the final two points they needed to win the set.

BLC jumped out to an early 6-0 lead in the second set. Two points came on consecutive service aces by Alexis Morsching. The Knights closed the gap with an ace serve by Jewel St. Germaine and a double front line block making it 14-13 BLC.

The Knights tied it at 16-16 late when BLC hit the ball out of bounds. Poehler’s kill regained the lead for BLC. The Vikings went on a 9-4 run to take the set.

MLC’s final lead was 2-1 on a Viking service error in the third set. A tip by Poehler tied it and later Poehler and Megan Rutt earned a point on a double block at the front line to regain the lead for BLC at 7-6.

Later, Poehler regained the lead for the Vikings on tip. Morsching’s kill gave BLC a lead of 9-7 that it would not surrender. A tip by Domonoske increased the lead to 16-9 for BLC later in the set. The Vikings went on a 6-0 run for the set and match win.

Brittany Sanders led BLC with 32 set assists while Rutt had 11 kills and Poehler had 10 kills. Veeva Lee added 13 digs.

St. Germaine had 16 set assists for MLC. Camryn Biebert added 13 set assists with eight digs and Kate Aswege had 10 digs.

MLC (8-13, 2-2) will host St. Scholastica on Saturday.