SANDUSKY, Ohio - The Bluffton University volleyball team dropped a pair of three setters at Cedar Point on Friday, Sept. 1, 2023. Grove City took the lidlifter in straight sets and national-power Case Western Reserve followed suit in the nightcap.

Sophomore Jenna Woods (DeGraff/Riverside) and junior Chloei Barnett (Wapakoneta) led the front row with 11 and 10 kills, respectively. Barnett was a force, hitting .391 with just one error on 23 attacks. Freshman Mallory Fluharty (Wooster) set them up with 20 assists in first collegiate match. Ella Taylor (Urbana) chimed in with eight helpers.

Abby Lawhorn (Cable/Mechanicsburg) did the dirty work with 15 digs in her college debut. Fluharty and Woods added eight digs apiece as Grove City held Bluffton to 22, 19 and 14 points in the season opener.

Case needed just over an hour to dispatch the Beavers in their second match of the day. The Spartans smashed 42 kills to just 15 for Bluffton. Woods finished with five kills, Fluharty tallied 11 assists and Lawhorn showed out with five aces and 11 digs.

The Beavers will tee it up from Cedar Point again on Saturday, Sept. 2, when they battle tournament-host Heidelberg at 10 a.m. Bluffton caps off its opening weekend with a 2 p.m. clash against St. Mary's of the MIAA.

-BEAVERS-