Heartland Conference release http://www.bluffton.edu/sports/volleyball/2012/allhcac.pdf
A pair of Bluffton standouts were named first team All-Heartland Conference following the 2012 volleyball season. Senior Heather Schierer collected her third straight post-season award after being named honorable mention All-HCAC the past two years. Jenny Brown (St. Marys/Memorial) was rewarded with first team honors following a superb freshman campaign with the Beavers. Brown was also named to the All-Freshman Team, while fellow freshman Mackenzie Lauber (Mansfield/Madison) was selected honorable mention All-HCAC.
Senior Heather Schierer was not only extremely talented on the volleyball court, she was also the most versatile member of the 2012 Bluffton volleyball team. She opened her final season as the starting libero, a role she has excelled in during her three years with the Beavers. An injury to freshman Brooke Ruffer (Stryker) necessitated Schierer's move to the right side. In her first week up front, Schierer was named the Heartland Conference Offensive Player of the Week. She tallied 166 kills and her 379 digs left her just three shy of team-high honors. The three-time All-HCAC selection fired 36 service aces and finished with 17 total blocks this season.
For her career, Shierer finished ninth all-time with .388 aces per set and 11th with 131 service aces. She is ninth all-time with 3.93 digs per set and her 1,327 career digs are 15th all-time despite playing just three seasons at Bluffton.
Jenny Brown stormed onto the Bluffton campus and made her presence known from day one, nailing down a starting spot in the middle right away. She finished her first campaign with the 11th-best single-season hitting percentage (.256) in school history. It was also the third-best hitting percentage in the entire Heartland Conference. In addition, Brown's 250 kills place her 7th all-time on the freshman kills list. She was the top blocker for the Beavers, finishing with 23 solos and 58 block assists.
Another freshman, Mackenzie Lauber, was also recognized following an outstanding start to her career at Bluffton. The talented setter racked up 969 assists (10th all-time) and her 8.58 assists per set place Lauber fifth all-time on the Bluffton single-season list. She led the team with 44 aces, against just 14 service errors. Lauber was in on 43 blocks and she also picked up 216 digs. The smooth-hitting distributor was one of seven Beavers to finish with over 100 kills (110).
In conjunction with the All-HCAC selections, the Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference also announced the All-HCAC Sportsmanship Team for the fall of 2012. Junior Bethany Behnfeldt (Napoleon) was selected to the All-Sportsmanship Team from Bluffton. This award has been developed as part of a conference-wide sportsmanship initiative. Members of the All-HCAC Sportsmanship team are selected by the coaches and their teammates as individuals who demonstrate the ideals of positive sportsmanship both on and off the field/court of competition.
The Bluffton University volleyball team put together its fifth consecutive winning season and with that a fifth straight trip to the Heartland Conference tournament. Full statistics and information on the 2012 volleyball season are available online at www.blufftonbeavers.com/volleyball<http://www.blufftonbeavers.com/volleyball>.
