By Tim Stried, SID
September 17, 2002


The Bluffton College volleyball team won two of four matches at the Otterbein College Invitational last weekend and has posted a .500 record (4-4) over their last eight matches to improve to 5-9 on the season.

Bluffton will host Ohio Wesleyan Wednesday night at 7 p.m. in the Beavers' 2002 home opener before traveling to Wheaton (Ill.) Saturday for a quad match.

At the Otterbein Invite, sophomore middle hitter Courtney Tisher led Bluffton in kills in three of their four matches and ended the tournament with 42 kills, 17 digs, six solo blocks and nine block assists. On the season, she leads the team in hitting percentage (.268) and blocks (42) and ranks second in kills (128).

Statistical leaders include freshman Keri Kuhlman leads in kills (129), junior Erin Cooper leads in assists (251), freshman Karah Weldy leads in service aces (45) and sophomore Erin Kreim leads in digs (202).

Host Otterbein dealt Bluffton a three-game loss (23-30, 24-30, 18-30) to begin the tournament last weekend. Leading the team was Tisher with eight kills, Cooper with 15 assists and Kuhlman with four blocks, while senior Janelle Beck had 13 digs.

The Beavers responded with a three-game win of their own over Earlham (30-20, 30-20, 30-20) as Tisher collected 11 kills and seven blocks and Kreim had 12 digs. Freshman Leslie Overmyer posted a team-high 13 assists and junior Jenae Meck added 10 kills.

Tournament semi-finalist Heidelberg handed Bluffton a three-game loss to begin action on Saturday (13-30, 29-31, 23-30) despite 12 kills from Kuhlman and 25 digs from Kreim. Bluffton ended the tournament with a four-game win over Urbana (30-25, 22-30, 30-26, 30-27) as Tisher totaled 15 kills and five blocks, Cooper put up 25 assists and Weldy posted four service aces and 20 digs.