By: Brittany Roth, sports information assistant
BLUFFTON, Ohio - Coming off of two solid wins Friday, the Beavers continued to play together to sweep their first opponent of the day, Denison, in three tight sets. Early in the first, Bluffton had several serving runs and they never looked back in their 25-16 win. A spurt from Denison to begin the second set put the Beavers down 4-0 and from there, the Big Red seemed to have the upper hand. When the score was 24-21, a Beaver push to 25 with Sara Roth (Findlay/Van Buren) at the service line knotted the score. Both squads battled back and forth until Bluffton strung two points together to finish the set, 29-27. The third set was another battle, consisting of nine tie scores, the final one being 20-20 after which the Beavers pulled a couple points ahead to end the set 25-22 while improving to 3-0.
Leading the Beavers offensively in their matchup with Denison with 14 kills was MacKenzie McFarlin (Ashland) and she was closely followed by Jenny Brown (St. Marys/Memorial) and Lauren Weisgarber (Bolivar/Tuscarawas Valley) with 10 and nine kills, respectively. Roth dished out 36 assists and was only topped defensively by freshman libero Sydney Mohler (Lima/Central Catholic) who had 14 digs. Ashley Litwiller (Hopedale, Ill./Olympia) and Weisgarber dominated the net defensively, racking up a solo block and three block assists and two solo blocks and five block assists, respectively.
The Beavers finished up the Sommer Center Spiketacular with the final match against Geneva. Bluffton once again came out firing on all cylinders, sweeping Geneva in three sets, all 25-18. Parmenter was the leading attacker during the match with 14 kills and she was followed by McFarlin with 10. Roth, Parmenter, Weisgarber and McFarlin all hit .375 or above for the match. Roth had 28 assists and seven digs. Other defenders who did the dirty work were Erin Helms (Arlington), Mohler, Weisgarber, and McFarlin who added nine, eight, six, and six digs, respectively. Litwiller led the team in blocks with three block assists.
Bluffton swept the tournament by defeating the Golden Tornadoes and now have a record of 4-0. It marks the first time since 2010, when Bluffton went 9-0 to start the season, that the Beavers have opened 4-0. Roth was placed on the All-Tournament Team and McFarlin was named MVP. The Beavers will return to competition next weekend in Pittsburgh, Penn. at the LaRoche Fall Classic Invitational. Bluffton opens with Washington and Jefferson on Friday night at 5:30 p.m.
-BEAVERS-
