By Brittany Roth

The Beavers returned to the gym to begin their second day of matches in the OAC/HCAC Challenge on Saturday, Sept. 21. Bluffton started out the morning session against Baldwin Wallace.

The first set went well and Bluffton defeated B-W by a 25-19 count. In the second set, the Beavers struggled to put anything together while falling 25-8. Fortunately, they came back to the match in the third set and won 25-17. After a 25-22 setback in the fourth, they came back strong in the clincher to win 15-9.

The match leader at the net was Kendra Parmenter (Grove City) with 17 kills. Brooke Ruffer (Stryker) put up 39 assists for the Beavers and MacKenzie McFarlin (Ashland) ripped three aces.

McFarlin also led Bluffton's defense with 16 digs. Lindsay Krohn (Marysville, IN/New Washington) and Hailey Phillips (Malinta/Patrick Henry) added 13 and 11 digs, respectively.

After a break, the Beavers went against the Polar Bears (Ohio Northern University). While Bluffton put up a fight, they fell to their neighboring school 25-16, 25-18, and 25-20. Leading Bluffton's offense were Parmenter, Jenny Brown (St. Marys/Memorial) and Adrienne Shepard (Arlington) with eight, seven and six kills, respectively.

Ruffer had 27 assists and 11 digs for the Beavers. Phillips and McFarlin tallied 16 and 12 digs while Parmenter had five block assists to add to Bluffton's defense.

Parmenter was placed on the All-Tournament Team after the Beavers went 1-3 for the weekend. Bluffton is now 7-9 on the season. They face Ohio Northern again this upcoming Wednesday, Sept. 25 in Ada at 7 p.m.