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Bluffton dominates Grizzles en route to share of HCAC title

Posted: Nov 01, 2009

November 1, 2009
By: Erin Neal, sports information assistant

 

DEFIANCE, Ohio - The Bluffton University women's volleyball team continued their winning ways as they had yet another successful weekend on the road. Saturday, the Beavers defeated conference foe Rose-Hulman in three straight sets (25-21, 29-27, 27-25). In their second match-up of the day, they took down Illinois College in four sets, 25-15, 25-23, 16-25, 25-21. A rare Sunday afternoon contest saw Bluffton overpower Franklin College in a three-set flurry that took less than one hour to complete (25-10, 25-11, 25-13). With the trio of victories, the Beavers moved to 24-5 on the season and 7-0 in conference play to sit in sole possession of the HCAC with only one conference match remaining. Following the perfect weekend, the Beavers completed an undefeated month of October as Bluffton has won 14 consecutive matches.

Against the Fightin' Engineers of Rose-Hulman, Bluffton hit .239 on the afternoon. The offense was led by a trio of hitters: JENNA ESHLEMAN (Landisville, Penn./Hempfield), NICOLE WOOD(Tiffin/Hopewell-Loudon), and ALLISON STREICHER(Continental/Continental) had 13, 12, and 10 kills, respectively. Calling the shots for the offense was junior setter SHAUNA ROWLAND (Bucyrus/Wynford) who notched 38 assists. Rowland also led the team in digs with 26 and she was followed by senior libero BRITTANY ROTH (Findlay) with 23, Streicher with 20 and KAYLA PICKERING (Jamestown/Greenview) with 11. Roth, who recently moved into first place on Bluffton's all-time digs list, went over the 2,000 mark for her career. Sophomore middles COURTNEY ZIMMERMAN (Leesburg/Fairfield) and HEATHER RODMAN (Mansfield/Mansfield Christian) also took control of the net as they had four and three block assists, respectively.

In the matchup with Illinois College, the Beavers had numerous players contribute to the victory. Streicher took the reins, directing the offense with her 35 assists. Eshleman and senior MICHELE ROSEN (Harrison) led all spikers with eight kills apiece. Pickering contributed seven kills and Zimmerman slammed down six of her own in the effort. MANDI LEEMASTER (Fremont/Old Fort) paced the backline with 21 digs, followed by Pickering with 13.
 
In a mid-afternoon conference battle with the Grizzlies of Franklin College, Bluffton chalked up their third and final win of the weekend. Every Beaver saw action in the win which clinched the #1 seed in the upcoming Heartland Cnference tournament. This time, Zimmerman led all hitters with her nine kills. Eshleman followed with seven spikes, Streicher with six, Pickering with five, and Wood with four. Rowland set up the offense with 35 assists while Streicher contributed seven assists. Rowland also tacked on 14 digs while Roth put up 11. Leemaster had seven digs and Eshleman added six. Leemaster also slammed down a career best five aces in the effort, while Pickering had three aces of her own.
 
The Beavers' final regular season match is Tuesday evening at 7 p.m. against backyard rival Defiance College in Founders Hall. A win over the Yellow Jackets would secure an outright regular season championship for the Beavers, the first in Bluffton volleyball history. Come out and support the Beavers as they compete to finish their 2009 regular-season campaign in sole possession of the HCAC crown.

-BEAVERS-