By: Colton Steiner
ERIE, Pa. - The Bluffton Beavers would enter day two of the PSB Invitational by taking on the Geneva College Golden Tornadoes and the Fredonia State Devils. Bluffton notched a pair of four-set wins while moving to 5-4 on the season.
Bluffton would open up game one of the day competing against Geneva College and would go on to cruise to a 25-17 set one win. The Beavers would dominate at the net, hitting an impressive .368 to go along with five aces and a pair of blocks. Going into set two, Bluffton would have a rocky going, falling to the Golden Tornadoes 25-22. Hitting errors haunted the Beavers as they would only be successfull on .063 of their attempts at the net.
With the contest tied at 1-1, Bluffton's struggles at the net continued, but it managed to squeeze out a set three victory, 25-23. The Beavers would notch six kills in the set to go along with three blocks and three aces en route to a 2-1 lead. Bluffton would regain its composure in the fourth set, smacking down 10 kills at a .286 clip while cruising to a 25-16 victory which sealed the 3-1 win over Geneva.
The Beavers finished the contest with 37 total kills and a hitting perceentage of .168. While Bluffton had seven errors behind the service line, they were able to tally 14 aces while also collecting six blocks as a team. Smacking home 15 winners and hitting .243 was Jenna Woods (DeGraff/Riverside), who also picked up five digs. Kasey Sager (Troy) added six kills with Gabby Williams (West Liberty/West Liberty-Salem) leading the pack with a blistering 31 assists to go along with eight digs. Emma Organ (Lambertville, MI/St. Ursula Academy) was all over the court, scooping up 17 digs with a pair of aces at the service line.
Following a tight 25-21 victory over Fredonia State in set one, the Beavers rolled to a 25-16 win in the second thanks to some tough serving from Organ and Mariana Ickes (Van Wert). The Devils stayed alive with a 25-18 set-three win, however, a dozen straight points with Organ at the service line in set four propelled the Beavers to a 25-14 shellacking and match victory.
Woods and Paige Massie (Alvada/Arcadia) powered the Beavers with 17 and 10 kills, respectively. Massie hit a whopping .444 and Woods finished .263 for the match. Williams, who doled out 38 helpers, surpassed 1,000 career assists on Saturday!
Organ scooped up 22 digs and fired four service aces. Ashlie Nuss (St. Mary's/Memorial) scooped up 15 digs, while Williams and Abby Lawhorn (Cable/Mechanicsburg) went for 12 and 11, respectively. Sophomore Saniyah Terry (Macomb, MI/L Anse Creuse HS North) added three aces from the service line.
Bluffton is back on the road again on Wednesday night, but slightly closer than its past two trips to St. Louis, Mo. and Erie, Pennsylvania! The Beavers make the short trip to Ada for a 7 p.m. meeting with the Ohio Northern Polar Bears.
-BEAVERS-