BLUFFTON, Ohio - After a well-deserved week off, the Bluffton University volleyball team was back at home this weekend, opening up with their first Heartland Conference match against Transylvania. The contest between the Beavers and the Pioneers went to and past the limit with five sets, including 27 tie scores and 11 lead changes. Fortunately for Bluffton, they had just enough to overcome the visitors in sets one, four and five to pull out the win (25-17, 26-28, 18-25, 25-20 and 17-15).

Putting the ball away for the Beavers were their two outside hitters, MACKENZIE MCFARLIN (Ashland) and KENDRA PARMENTER (Grove City) who had 20 kills each. Dominating the net defensively were the two middles, LAUREN WEISGARBER (Bolivar/Tuscarawas Valley) and JENNY BROWN (St. Marys/Memorial). Weisgarber had three solo blocks and four block assists while Brown had two solo blocks and one block assist.

SARA ROTH (Findlay/Van Buren) dished out 51 assists and the defense was led by SYDNEY MOHLER (Lima/Central Catholic) who picked up 27 digs. ERIN HELMS (Arlington), BECCA TOURNEY (Columbia City, Ind.), Weisgarber, Roth, and McFarlin also added to Bluffton’s defense by tallying 12, 11, 12, 10, and eight digs, respectively.

For the Beavers' second match of the day, they faced #6 Wittenberg University. The first set, the Tigers sat in the driver’s seat the entire time as they rolled to a 25-9 victory. Bluffton came back and battled during the final two sets of the match (25-17 and 25-16), but came up a little short. McFarlin had eight kills while Roth handed out 20 assists. Mohler led the defense again with 13 digs.

The Beavers are now 1-0 in the HCAC and 14-6 on the season. Bluffton will travel to Earlham College on Wednesday at 7 p.m. for their next conference match.

-BEAVERS-