By: Colton Steiner
ADA, Ohio - The Bluffton Beavers would take a short road-trip to Ohio Northern to compete in the ONU Invitational against the Albion Britons and the Alma Scots. The Beavers would open up against the Britons, and despite winning the first set, they would end up losing 3-1. Despite the loss, Bluffton would rebound against Alma, as they would take down the Scots with a 3-0 victory to go 1-1 on the day. With Albion improving to 9-1 on the season and Alma dropping to 7-5, the Beavers now sit at an overall record of 6-8 on the 2025 campaign.
Bluffton would come out firing and were on a mission, coming away with the first set in a thrilling 28-26 win. Opening up the contest with a .293 hitting percentage with 18 kills and three aces, the Beavers would start the game strong. Despite the great start, Albion would show some determination of their own with a dominant 25-11 win in set two. The Britons seemed to have Bluffton's number, as the Beavers would hit -.030 with Albion having a 5-2 advantage in blocks at the net. In the following set, Bluffton would be able to keep it close, trailing 13-10, but the Britons would close out the set outscoring the Beavers 12-6 to go up 2-1. Bluffton would see a little improvement from the second set, hitting .100 and only allowing two Albion blocks at the net. While Bluffton was able to start the fourth set in better fashion, the Britons would still come out on top, taking the fourth set 25-17 and taking the match 3-1.
Leading the match for the Beavers was senior Jenna Woods (DeGraff, Ohio / Riverside) who smacked down 17 kills at a .120 rate, while adding one block in the four sets. Bekah Pack (Lexington), Madison Brentlinger (Indian Lake), and Kasey Sager (Troy) all tallied seven kills a piece against Albion, while Emma Organ (Lambertville, MI / St. Ursula Academy) scooped up 22 digs. Dishing out assists left and right was Ella Taylor (Urbana), who recorded a team-high 24 in the contest, with Gabby Williams (West Liberty, Ohio / West Liberty-Salem) adding 11.
After falling in game one of the day, Bluffton would rebound to start game two, with a dominant 25-13 win in set one against Alma. Bluffton would be a force to be reckon with at the net, hitting .344 with 15 kills, while holding the Scots to a hitting percentage of .059. Alma would gain some ground in set two, but the Beavers would be in the zone as they would take the second set in a final score of 25-22. The Scots would improve at the net, but Bluffton would still only allow eight kills from Alma, while smacking twice as many with 16 in the second set. The force of the Beavers would be too much too handle for the Scots as Bluffton would cruise to a 25-12 win in set three as they would sweep Alma 3-0.
Hitting an impressive percentage of .692 with 10 kills on 13 attempts and only 1 error at the net was senior Bekah Pack. It would be another solid outing for Jenna Woods, as the opposite hitter would smack down 13 kills with a hitting percentage of .235. Emma Organ would be all over the court as she nabbed 21 digs while also scoring five aces, with Ella Taylor and Madison Brentlinger each having 10. Ella Taylor would also be dishing out great sets, as she recorded 34 assists in the match. As a team, the Beavers were dominant at the net, hitting .291 for the game with 44 total kills while Alma struggled with 23 kills at a percentage of .08.
The Beavers will get right back into action on Saturday, Sept. 20th as they travel to Granville, Ohio to go up against Capital at 2 p.m. before they compete against Denison at 4 p.m.
- Beavers -