November 15, 2016
BLUFFTON, Ohio - Senior Lauren Weisgarber (Bolivar/Tuscarawas Valley) has been named Honorable Mention All-America by the American Volleyball Coaches Association following Bluffton's fourth straight NCAA Regional appearance, one for each of her seasons as a starter for the Beavers! She is just the second Bluffton volleyball player to earn All-America status after earning First Team All-Great Lakes Region recognition less than a week ago. Jenny Brown was the first Bluffton volleyball HM All-America last season.
A four-year starter for the Beavers, Weisgarber sliced and diced Bluffton's Heartland Conference opponents on the way to her first All-HCAC post-season recognition. The senior middle saved the best for last, leading the HCAC with a blistering .385 hitting percentage in conference contests. She ranks fourth in the conference with 3.16 kills per set, while her 77 blocks are sixth in the HCAC.
Weisgarber earned her first Heartland Conference Player of the Week honor after hitting .439 with 20 kills in a pair of victories over Earlham and Denison. She is 12th on Bluffton's all-time list with 305 career blocks. Her .322 hitting percentage this season is second all-time to Jenny Brown's .343 a season ago and her .240 career hitting percentage is sixth all-time. Weisgarber's 945 career kills are 17th on Bluffton's all-time list.
Playing alongside her sister, sophomore setter Erin Weisgarber (Bolivar/Tuscarawas Valley), the two have taken advantage of their family connection. Erin’s laser-quick sets to Lauren were crucial in Bluffton’s drive for their fourth consecutive HCAC Tournament title. Lauren rammed home a career-high 19 winners in the five-set slugfest with Rose-Hulman in the semifinals before demolishing that mark with 24 kills and a red-hot .442 hitting percentage in the title clash with Hanover! She earned tournament MVP honors for those two performances and then followed that up by being named First Team All-Heartland Conference for the first time in her career.
Weisgarber and fellow senior captain MacKenzie McFarlin (Ashland) became the first volleyball players in Bluffton University history to finish their HCAC tournament careers with an unblemished record when the Beavers knocked Hanover out of the HCAC Tournament for the fourth straight season on Saturday. They are 9-0 over the past four years with all of those victories on the road!
For the fourth consecutive season, Coach Yarnell and the Beavers played in the NCAA Regionals following their Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference tournament championship win at host and #1 seed Hanover. Bluffton traveled nearly 350 miles to #11 and top-seeded Wisconsin-Whitewater for a date with #17 Wisconsin-Oshkosh on Thursday, Nov. 10, 2016. The Beavers took down Oshkosh in five sets for Bluffton's first-ever NCAA Tournament victory! Bluffton fell to #16 Washington in the Regional semifinals one day before the Bears defeated Whitewater to punch their ticket for the NCAA National Tournament.
-BEAVERS-
