By Brittany Roth, sports information assistant
Eureka Stats http://www.bluffton.edu/athletics/volleyball/2013/09-07-v1.htm  
IWU stats http://www.bluffton.edu/athletics/volleyball/2013/09-07-v2.htm

Bluffton had another exciting day at the Illinois Wesleyan Barker Classic. The Beavers began the morning at 10 a.m. with a match against Eureka College. After an easy 25-13 win for the first set, Bluffton went on to sweep the match in three, defeating Eureka 25-23 and 25-20 in the second and third sets, respectively.

Sara Roth (Findlay/Van Buren) had 21 assists and three aces for the Beavers. Freshman MacKenzie McFarlin (Ashland) also had three aces on Eureka. Ashley Litwiller (Hopedale, Ill./Olympia) pounded eight kills for Bluffton and Adrienne Shepard (Arlington) was close behind with seven kills. Emily Broughton (Lewisburg/Tri-County North) knocked down five. Marissa Krier (Massillon/Central Christian), Kim Perry (West Alexandria/Twin Valley South) and Roth led the team defensively with seven, seven, and six digs, respectively.

After about half an hour of down time, the Beavers then went up against the host team, Illinois Wesleyan University. IWU came out ready to go and quickly downed the Beavers 25-14 in the first set. In the second set, Bluffton answered back with a 25-16 victory. The third and fourth sets were exciting with intense rallies and back-and-forth leads between Illinois Wesleyan and Bluffton. Although the Beavers fought hard, they fell short 25-22 and 25-20.

Tearing apart the IWU defense was McFarlin with 11 kills, along with Brooke Ruffer (Stryker) and Kendra Parmenter (Grove City) who had eight kills apiece. Ruffer and Roth had 19 and 18 assists for the Beavers, respectively. The defense was led on the front lines by Lauren Weisgarber (Bolivar/Tuscarawas Valley) with a solo block and two block assists. Jenny Brown (St. Marys/Memorial) and Shepard added two block assists as well. Senior Lindsay Krohn (Marysville, Ind./New Washington) had 14 digs for the Beavers while Krier and senior Hailey Phillips (Malinta/Patrick Henry) added nine digs each.

The players have shown improvement in every match they have had so far. We are looking forward to the JV match at home on Monday against UNOH at 7 along with the final home match before a month on the road when we take on Thomas More in the Sommer Center on Wednesday night at 7 p.m.