Skip to navigation Skip to content Skip to footer

Beavers make most of home debut with 3-1 victory over Siena Heights

Posted: Sep 28, 2006

September 28, 2006

BLUFFTON, Ohio - The Bluffton University volleyball team took advantage of a boisterous student section in Founders Hall to dispatch Siena Heights in four games on Thursday, Sept. 28, 2006. The Beavers improved to 6-12 with the four-set victory (30-21, 27-30, 30-21, 30-27) over "The Saints".

The home crowd ignited the Beavers who took a 21-11 lead in game one. With CHELSEA WYSE(Archbold/Archbold) serving and MICHELLE ROSEN (Harrison/Harrison) on the outside, Bluffton went up 27-14 before Siena Heights got untracked. The Saints trimmed the deficit to nine points, but Bluffton held on for the 30-21 victory in the first game.

Bluffton held a slim 3-2 advantage in the second game before Siena Heights found its groove with a 7-1 spurt which gave The Saints a 9-4 advantage. The Beavers used four straight points to claw into the match, 15 all, but they could not overtake Siena which scored the final four points for the 30-27 win.

BRITTANY SHULTZ (Hudson, Ind./Prairie Heights) put Bluffton on top, 3-0, in game three as she blasted consecutive aces. The Beavers continued to take advantage of their serves as the built a 20-8 cushion midway through the game. Siena Heights used Bluffton errors and miscommunication to pull within four points, 23-19, before the Beavers regrouped with six straight points as they took game three by a score of 30-21.

In a fourth game which was back-and-forth, Bluffton scored six of seven points to break a 23-23 tie as it opened up a 29-24 advantage. Siena Heights won the next three points, but the Beavers held on for the 30-27 victory which gave Bluffton the match, 3-1.

Shultz, who led Bluffton with 28 assists and a whopping seven service aces, spread the ball around as four Beavers knocked down double-digit kills for the match. Freshman outside hitter JORDAN SCIFRES (Greenwood, Ind/Lutheran) led the attack with 12 kills. Junior RACHEL ALVAREZ (Convoy/Crestview) and freshman AUDRA COLEMAN (Lima/Central Catholic) both tallied 11 kills while freshman ANNA VIARS (Lebanon/Lebanon) chipped in with 10 kills. Viars hit a phenomenal .409 as she finished with only one hitting error. Defensively, freshman libero BRITTANY ROTH (Findlay/Findlay) paced the Beavers with 20 digs. Scifres, who hit .250 for the match, ended the night with 12 digs. Wyse notched three service aces to go along with her 11 assists and six digs. Senior KATIE MOORE (Bucyrus/Wynford) cleaned up in the back with seven digs.

Bluffton returns to action on Saturday, Sept. 30, when it travels to Tiffin for the Tiffin University Tournament. The Beavers open up action at 9 a.m. vs. VIC.