By Tim Stried
October 7, 2002


The Bluffton College volleyball team evened their record in the Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference to 1-1 Saturday with a 3-0 blanking of Transylvania University in Founders Hall.

The Beavers are now 9-16 overall and will meet their next HCAC opponent Tuesday night as Manchester College visits Bluffton at 7:30 p.m. The Beavers have this weekend off before facing a two-week stretch of road games which will take them to three different states to face Thomas More (10/16), Anderson (10/22) and Calvin (10/25, 26).

The win Saturday over Transylvania (30-19, 30-24, 30-26) snapped a five-match losing streak for the Beavers. Freshman Keri Kuhlman led the way with 13 kills in the three games for a new season-best 4.3 kills per game. Sophomore Erin Kreim had 12 kills and a team-high 14 digs, while sophomore Karah Weldy contributed 10 kills. Junior Erin Cooper collected 22 assists and sophomore Courtney Tisher tied a career-high with four service aces and added four blocks.

Earlier in the week, Bluffton hosted Defiance College for the Beavers' first HCAC match of the season, but the visiting Yellow Jackets walked away with a 3-0 win (24-30, 19-30, 26-30). Kuhlman's 11 kills led BC, while freshman Leslie Overmyer tallied 20 assists in just two games for a season-best 10.0 assists per game average. Weldy collected a team-high 12 digs and added two aces.

Tisher's 77 blocks, .249 hitting percentage and 231 kills lead the squad on the season, while Kuhlman's 2.72 kills per game is tops. Cooper leads the way in assists with 443 (5.3 apg) and Kreim's 376 digs ranks first on the team and sixth in the HCAC. Weldy now has 59 service aces, which leads the team and ranks first in the HCAC.