September 17, 2001


Three talented teams all handed the Bluffton College volleyball squad a loss last weekend as the Beavers competed at the Otterbein College Invitational in Westerville, Ohio.

Bluffton saw their overall record fall to 4-9 following the tournament, but the Beavers now must focus their attention on several Heartland Conference opponents that will begin to appear on their schedule. BC will travel to HCAC foe Manchester College on Tuesday evening and will compete at the Wheaton College (Ill.) Invitational this weekend.

In the final match of the tournament, BC took host Otterbein to four games before falling to the now 14-2 Cardinals, who finished second in the tourney to Thomas More. On Friday, Bluffton dropped a three-game match to Geneva College and then began play on Saturday with a five-game loss to now 8-5 Urbana University.

Senior Mandy Pequignot led BC in kills in each match and totaled 46 in the tournament. She now has 167 on the season and is averaging 3.55 kills per game, which would be a new BC record should it stand up for the entire season. She is now ninth on the career kills list with 939, just nine kills behind Betsy Hook (1997-00).

Senior Erica Jellison collected 103 assists in the three matches and leads the team with 23 service aces. Senior Lisa Rathburn totaled 70 digs to bring her season total to a team-leading 227. Senior Jaime Frisk is close behind with 207 digs this season.