By Brittany Roth, sports information assistant

Earlham Stats http://www.bluffton.edu/athletics/volleyball/2013/10-26-v1.htm I Trine Stats http://www.bluffton.edu/athletics/volleyball/2013/10-26-v2.htm

BLUFFTON, Ohio - The Beavers came to play on Saturday, Oct. 26, opening up with their Senior Day conference match against Earlham. Bluffton was in control of the entire first set, defeating Earlham by a convincing 25-10 margin. They struggled during the second set but were able to pull out the win, 25-22. The third set was reminiscent of the first with the Beavers rolling to a confident conference sweep, handling Earlham 25-10.

Leading Bluffton at the net was sophomore Kendra Parmenter (Grove City) who pounded 13 kills. She was assisted by Brooke Ruffer (Stryker) who set up 25 winners for the match. The defense was led by seniors Lindsay Krohn (Marysville, IN/New Washington) and Hailey Phillips (Malinta/Patrick Henry) with eight and six digs, respectively. The Beavers are now 4-3 in the conference with crucial HCAC matches against Defiance and Transylvania coming up next week. Along with Krohn and Phillips, student assistant Rachel Duncan was also honored by the Bluffton volleyball team for her four years with the program.

The match against Trine University was an even one with countless ties and lead changes throughout the four sets. In the lidlifter, Trine defeated Bluffton 25-15, but the Beavers were able to shake off the setback during the next set, defeating Trine 25-22. The final two sets were also close but The Thunder ended each one on top, defeating Bluffton 25-21 and 28-26.

Parmenter again led the Beavers offensively with 13 kills. Sophomore Jenny Brown (St. Marys/Memorial) and MacKenzie McFarlin (Ashland) added seven kills each, while freshman Adrienne Shepard (Arlington) and Ruffer tallied another six apiece. Ruffer led the Beaver offense with 23 assists and four service aces. In the back row, Phillips and Ruffer paced Bluffton with 14 digs apiece. McFarlin was also in double digits with 11 digs.

Bluffton returns to the Sommer Center to play their final home match against HCAC frontrunner Defiance College (21-5, 7-0 HCAC) in their next to last conference match on Wednesday, Oct. 30. The contest is slated to start at 7 p.m.

                                                      -BEAVERS-