October 24, 2006
BLUFFTON, Ohio - The Bluffton University volleyball team dug a 5-0 hole in game one of its home match against Manchester College and never recovered, losing in three straight games to the Spartans, 30-27, 30-25 and 30-25 on Tuesday, October 24, 2006. The Beavers fell to 9-20 and 3-4 in the Heartland Conference while failing to lock up a berth in the upcoming HCAC Tournament.
Manchester jumped out to a quick 5-0 lead in the first game and never looked back on its way to a 30-27 victory. Down 12-7, the Beavers ran off four straight points, thanks to a pair of Manchester errors and an ANNA VIARS (Lebanon/Lebanon) block, to trim the deficit to one point. A pair of MICHELE ROSEN (Harrison/Harrison) kills put Bluffton on top, 15-14, and when she knocked down a kill following a JORDAN SCIFRES (Greenwood, Ind./Lutheran) serve, the Beavers took a 23-20 lead. Manchester went back to work and scored 10 of the next 14 points for the game one win.
Although the Beavers dropped the first three points in game two, they had the lead, 12-11, before the Spartans rolled off 12 of the next 13 points to take a commanding 23-13 lead. Bluffton rallied for four points on three occasions in the latter stages of the game but it was not enough as Manchester held on for the 30-25 victory.
After trailing 17-11 midway through the third game, Bluffton was knocking on the door, 19-18, but a Manchester kill stopped the Beavers' momentum and five straight Spartan points iced the contest for the visitors. The 30-25 game three victory gave the Spartans the match as they kept alive their bid for the upcoming six-team Heartland Conference Tournament.
Rosen kept the Beavers in the contest as she finished the night with 16 kills and only four errors for a .364 hitting percentage. She also put up four block assists. Scifres pounded nine kills while hitting .240. AUDRA COLEMAN (Lima/Central Catholic) paced Bluffton at the net with three solo blocks and three block assists. Viars posted seven kills and put up four block assists for the match.
BRITTANY ROTH (Findlay/Findlay) picked up 21 digs while BRITTANY SHULTZ (Hudson, Ind./Prairie Heights) finished with 21 assists to lead the Beavers. CHELSEA WYSE(Archbold/Archbold) also notched 14 assists in the loss to the Spartans.
Bluffton returns to action on Saturday, October 28, 2006, when it travels to Earlham to face the the Quakers and Allegheny, beginning at 2 p.m. The Beavers will bring their 2006 regular season to a close on Tuesday, October 31, when they welcome local rival Defiance College to Founders Hall at 7 p.m.