BLUFFTON, Ohio - The Bluffton University volleyball team capped off its 2020-21 regular season with a sweep of Rose-Hulman on Saturday, Feb. 20, in the Sommer Center. A battle from start to finish, the victory assures the Beavers of a berth in the four-team Heartland Conference tournament which is slated to tip on Friday, Feb. 26! Bluffton improved to 15-7 overall and 6-3 in the Heartland, while RHIT finished its season at 2-7 overall and in the conference.
Bluffton trailed by as many as six (15-9) in the lidlifter, before backrow specialists Courtney Weekley (Butler/Clear Fork) and Kia Rainey (Adrian, MI/Madison) got it going from the service line, turning the tide and pushing Bluffton to an 18-16 advantage. A 5-1 spurt by the visitors had the Engineers on the verge of taking set one, up 24-22, but back-to-back Rose hitting errors and three Weekley serves sent Bluffton to a 26-24 victory.
Set two was knotted at nine apiece before Bluffton took over, opening a 20-11 spread, again on the serves of Weekley and Rainey. The home team went up 2-0 thanks to a convincing 25-17 win in the second set.
All-conference libero Katryna Dahlberg put Rose on her shoulders in the third set, firing seven straight serves as Rose went out to a 12-7 lead. Bluffton chipped away until Remi Bower (Deshler/Patrick Henry) evened it up with three points from the service line. With the Beavers trailing 23-22, Bower hit paydirt to knot the score at 23 apiece. Kills by Cassie Mladek (Coshocton/Ridgewood) and Cassidy Posey (Paulding) put the home team up 25-24 before Mladek and Alysha Like (McComb) stuffed Sophia Koop to clinch the sweep!
Bower showed her power on Saturday, smashing a match-high 18 kills with a .302 hitting percentage in just three sets. Posey and Kaylie Campbell (Camden/Preble Shawnee), who hit .385 with just one error, both finished with six winners. Weekley rifled three aces for the victors.
Noel Ufferman (Marysville/Fairbanks) and Elle Price (Findlay) handed out 21 and 15 assists, respectively. Like and Posey were both in on four blocks. Kleman led the home team with 16 digs, while Chelsey Taylor (Hicksville) and Weekley picked up nine and eight, respectively.
Bluffton will now wait to see how the Transylvania-Anderson match on Sunday and the Transylvania-Franklin showdown on Tuesday turn out before the seedings are complete. The Beavers will be either the #3 seed or the #4 seed once the matches are complete. They will travel to play in the HCAC semi-finals on Friday, Feb. 26, against an opponent to be determined. Transylvania, MSJ and Franklin will join the Beavers with the matchups set Tuesday night following Transylvania's 6 p.m. contest at Franklin.
-BEAVERS-