By: Brittany Roth, sports information assistant
CRESTVIEW HILLS, Ky. - The Bluffton University volleyball team struggled to make a dent in the Thomas More armor on Wednesday, Sept. 17, 2014, falling in straight sets to a Saints squad that improved to 11-1 on the season. Bluffton fell to 11-3 with its second straight setback after kicking off the season 11-1.
The home team opened a 21-12 margin in the first set, cruising to a 25-17 victory as the Beavers struggled to return serve. Bluffton hung with the Saints all the way to 17-15 in set two, before Thomas More pulled away for the 25-18 win and two-set advantage. The visitors went up 7-4 in the third and still held an 11-9 advantage before an 8-1 TMC rally made the score 17-12. The Beavers knotted it back up at 19 thanks to back-to-back Kendra Parmenter (Grove City) service aces, but Thomas More capped the match with a 25-23 victory for the Wednesday night sweep.
Junior Jenny Brown (St Marys/Memorial) was the lone bright spot for a Bluffton offense that hit just .163 as a team. She drove home nine kills with no errors on only 14 attempts for a red-hit .643 hitting percentage. Brown also added two solo blocks for 11 total points. Sara Roth (Findlay/Van Buren) finished with 27 assists while sophomore MacKenzie McFarlin (Ashland) added six kills. Thomas More took advantage of 13 aces as the Beavers were unable to keep the home team off the service line.
Bluffton will jump back into the frying pan on Friday afternoon when they return home to host the HCAC/OAC Crossover. The Beavers kick off the weekend with a 2 p.m. match against Capital before round two with Ohio Northern at 6 p.m. in the Sommer Center. Come out and support your Beavers!
-BEAVERS-
