Bethel volleyball team bus involved in fatal crash in Wisconsin

A bus carrying the Bethel University volleyball team was involved in a crash Saturday night in southern Wisconsin that left two people in the other vehicle dead.

No one from the Bethel bus was injured, according to a statement from the university in Arden Hills.

Local media, citing the Rock County (Wis.) Sheriff's Office, reported that the crash happened just after 8 p.m. several miles west of Whitewater, Wis., when a car crossed the center line and struck the bus head-on.

Two people in the car, a 20-year-old woman and 22-year-old man, both from southern Wisconsin, died at the scene.

The Bethel volleyball team had just played in a match at the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater. Bethel officials said that after the crash, the players and coaches were transported to a local hotel, where they spent the night. They arrived back on the Bethel campus on Sunday afternoon.

"We praise God that our team members, coaches and bus driver were spared serious injury in this horrific accident," Bethel University Athletic Director Bob Bjorklund said in a news release. "At the same time, we remember the two individuals who died during this crash, and especially remember and pray for their friends and families at this tragic time."

The university is providing pastoral care and counseling to the volleyball team.

"I expect that this is going to hit our players in different ways and at different times. There is anxiety, there is grief, and there is gratefulness all wound up together, and it's going to take some time to process all of that," Gretchen Hunt, Bethel women's volleyball coach and associate athletic director, said in a news release. "We are deeply grieving for the friends and families of the crash victims."