By: Colton Steiner
BLUFFTON, Ohio - On day two of the Sommer Center Spiketacular, the Bluffton Beavers volleyball team would return and go up against the Heidelberg Student Princes and close out the invitational with a match against the Baldwin Wallace Yellow Jackets. It would a hard fought match from start to finish against the Student Princes, as the Beavers would come out on top in a five set battle, 3-2. It would be Bluffton's first win against the Student Princes since the 2016 season where Bluffton would route the Student Princes on their home court, 3-1. Following a five set match against Hanover, the Baldwin Wallace Yellow Jackets would face the Beavers in the final match of the Spiketacular, with the Yellow Jackets making a statement with a 3-0 victory. With the 1-1 split on the day, Bluffton will move to an overall record of 10-11 on the 2025 campaign as they head into conference play.
Heidelberg would start off the contest with a tight 25-23 win over the Beavers in set one, hitting .233 to Bluffton's .182, with each team smacking down 15 kills. The second set would be a different story, as Bluffton would dominate with a strong 25-10 win with a 14-4 kill advantage and their most efficient set, hitting .270 at the net. The Student Princes would find their footing in the third set, but the Beavers would still prevail, going up 2-1 after taking the set 25-22. It would be another good net performance for the home team, hitting 15 kills to the visitors 10 and having a .156 hitting percentage to Heidelberg's .022. While Bluffton would be up in the match, Heidelberg would bounce back with a 26-24 set four win, to even up the match at two a piece and forcing a fifth set. The Student Princes were able to jump ahead to a 10-7 lead, but the Beavers were able to mount a comeback, outscoring the visitors 8-3 as they would win the fifth set 15-13, taking the match 3-2.
At the net for Bluffton with a game-high 19 kills and an impressive .395 kill percentage was Kasey Sager (Troy), with Jenna Woods (DeGraff, Ohio / Riverside) right on her tail with 18 kills in the match. Four Beavers would have over twenty digs, with Emma Organ (Lambertville, MI / St. Ursula Academy) leading the way with 28 and Ella Taylor (Urbana) right behind her with 22 to go along with her 22 assists. Abby Lawhorn (Cable, Ohio / Mechanicsburg) and Madison Brentlinger (Indian Lake) each would tally 21 digs, with Brentlinger also adding 13 kills at a .333 rate. Setting up her teammates well and recording a game-high 31 assists in the match was senior Gabby Williams (West Liberty, Ohio / West Liberty-Salem).
Bluffton would start off hot against the Yellow Jackets to start game 2 of the day, leading 12-5 to start set one before Baldwin Wallace would find their grove and close the set on a 20-9 run to go up 1-0 after one. The Yellow Jackets dominated at the net, smacking down .464 of their kills, with a 16-11 edge over the Beavers. While Bluffton would have a 13-12 advantage in kills in the second set, nine errors at the net led to a .082 hitting percentage and a 25-20 loss in set two as they would fall behind 2-0. With their backs against the wall, Bluffton would keep it close, but Baldwin Wallace would prove too much to handle as they would hand the Beavers a 25-20 defeat in set three to seal the 3-0 sweep.
Kasey Sager had a strong performance on the attack, hitting .400 with a team-high 12 kills in the outing. Leading the team with 13 digs and adding seven kills was Madison Brentlinger, while Gabby Williams would hand out 17 assists. As a whole, Bluffton wuld hit .127 at the net for the contest, while the Yellow Jackets would hit .252, with the visitors holding a 43-37 edge in total kills.
The Beavers will be off for a week before they prepare to travel to Franklin for their first conference match of the season on Saturday, Oct. 4, with a 2 p.m. start time.
-Beavers-