October 27, 2012
DANVILLE, Ky. - It was a great end of the regular season for the Beavers as they headed to Centre College in Kentucky to take on the Roanoke Maroons and the Mountaineers of Berea. The first victims of the day were the Maroons. Bluffton defeated Roanoke handily, 25-20, 25-18, 25-22.
Freshman Kendra Parmenter (Grove City) led the Beaver offense with 10 kills. Junior Bethany Behnfeldt (Napoleon) had another fine match, hitting .500 with eight kills. Following closely behind were senior Heather Schierer (Crescent Springs, Ky./St. Henry) and freshman Jenny Brown (St. Marys/Memorial) both at seven kills apiece. Freshman Mackenzie Lauber (Mansfield/Madison) dished out 35 assists for the victors.
It was a block party for the Beaver defernse. Behnfeldt roofed nine attacks, while freshman Brooke Ruffer (Stryker) tallied five total blocks. In the backcourt, junior Hailey Phillips (Malinta/Patrick Henry) led the defense with 18 shovels, followed by Schierer's 11 and eight for Lauber.
Up next for the Beavers were the Mountaineers of Berea. After a shaky start that included dropping the first set, the Beavers came back in a big way, winning the match in four (23-25, 25-15, 25-18, 25-14) while moving to 17-14 on the season (5-4 HCAC).
Schierer had a great match, smashing 17 kills. Ruffer followed with 14 slammers and Brown smoked 10 bombs. Parmenter and Behnfeldt added eight and six kills, respectively. Lauber handed out 43 assists.
The Beaver block was at it again with Behnfeldt and Brown tallying three stuffs apiece. Phillips led in the backcourt with 15 digs for the match. Schierer picked up eight digs, while junior Lindsay Krohn (Marysville, Ind./New Washington) chipped in with seven. Lauber and Ruffer added six digs each.
Serving was a strong suit for the Beavers as Schierer slammed four aces. Ruffer and freshman Danica Hicks (Convoy/Crestview) threw in three aces apiece to go along with Krohn and Lauber who fired two aces each.
Tuesday the Beavers start Heartland Conference tournament play when they travel to Rose-Hulman to take on the Engineers at 7:30 p.m. A victory over the Engineers would propel Bluffton into the conference semi-final against Transylvania at Mount St. Joseph on Saturday.
-BEAVERS-