By: Colton Steiner
GRANVILLE, Ohio - It would be a second straight double-header day for the Bluffton University Beavers as they would go up against the Capital University Comets and then against the Denison University Big Red, who ere hosting the Saturday Invitational. Bluffton would get the ball rolling, cruising to a 3-1 win over Capital.
The Comets came out strong, winning the first set 25-17 while holding the Beavers to a paltry hitting percentage of -.029. Despite the slow start, Bluffton responded with a 25-18 win in set two. The Beavers smacked down 17 kills at a rate of .429 for the set. Capital would compete in the third set, but the Beavers came out victorious with a 25-19 win. Bluffton tallied eight kills, but would only commit three errors on 29 attempts for a hitting percentage of .172. In the fourth set, the Beavers finished strong, ramming home kills at a rate of .303, recording 13 putaways, while cruising to a 25-17 win.
Senior Jenna Woods (DeGraff/Riverside) had a strong outing against the Comets, smashing 18 kills with a .341 hitting percentage, while also tallying two blocks. Scooping up a team-high 18 digs was Emma Organ (Lambertville, Mich./St. Ursula Academy), who surpassed 1,000 pickups for her career!
Ella Taylor (Urbana) would collect seven to go along with 19 assists in the match. Gabby Williams (West Liberty/West Liberty-Salem) added 13 asissts, while Madison Brentlinger (Indian Lake) hammered seven kills against the Comets.
Bluffton opened the contest against Denison with a 25-14 first set win, where they would hit .188 at the net with 11 kills on 32 attempts, while limiting Denison to a -.063 hitting percentage with only seven kills. Denison would rebound in set two, evening up the match at 1-1 with a 25-19 win. The hosts proceeded to take the third set (25-19) for a 2-1 advantage. The Big Red had it going, smacking 17 kills at a rate of .277, while also scoring two blocks. Denison rode the momentum into the fourth set, winning 25-14 to defeat the Beavers 3-1. In the final set, the Big Red would have twice the number of kills with a 14-7 advantage, hitting .303 to Bluffton's .061 percentage.
Smacking a team-high 15 kills was Jenna Woods, with Madison Brentlinger right behind her at 10 kills in the weekend finale. All over the hardwood and scooping 22 digs was Emma Organ, with Gabby Williams tallying 28 assists to go along with her 13 digs.
Organ was named to the 46th annual ONU Invitational Volleyball All-Tournament Team for her work at Ada on Friday night! She picked up 43 digs in seven sets against Albion and Alma.
The Beavers will end their three-week road trip with a contest at Trine University on Tuesday, Sept. 23, starting at 6:30 p.m., before traveling back to campus to host the annual Sommer Center Spiketacular on Friday, Sept. 26 and Saturday, Sept. 27.
-BEAVERS-