The Buena Vista volleyball team got its 2014 Iowa Conference season off to an historic start on Thursday night by sweeping past visiting Central College, 3-0, to earn the program's first-ever win over the Dutch.

BVU came out firing on all cylinders in this match, posting a team hitting percentage of .304 against a Dutch team that was holding opponents to a league-low .125 clip coming in.

Sophomore Maddie Bardole led all players with 14 kills and only two errors to finish with a .414 percentage.  She capped her 13th double-double of the year with 10 digs.

Freshman Jade Schaap followed right behind with 13 kills, to go along with seven digs and two block assists.  Fellow freshman Celie Kohls had a big night for the Beavers, turning in a career-best 10 kills and only one error for a .500 percentage.  She also added three block assists  Another freshman, Emily Mathews, just missed out on double-figures with nine kills.

Freshman Laura Barry was feeding the ball to the hot-hand all night and tallied 42 assists, to go along with five digs.  Senior Jordan Henningsen matched Bardole with 10 digs of her own, while chipping in with a team-best three service aces.

"I'm just speechless right now," said BVU head coach Lori Slight afterwards. "These girls neeeded and deserved that win tonight. We just did something to change where this season is going in its longevity."

BVU did not trail until the third set when it was behind 1-0 and 2-1.  The Beavers broke open a 10-10 contest in the opening set with four straight points, but had Central fight back to make it 17-15.  The Beavers again ran off four straight to go up 21-17 which helped lift them to a 25-19 win.

The Beavers scored the first four points of the second set and led by as much as 7-1 in the early going.  They later extended the lead to 16-7 and were never really threatened the rest of the set while going on to win 25-20.

Central scored two of the first three points of the third set before BVU responded with a run of its own to go up for good at 5-3.  The lead grew to 11-5, forcing a Dutch timeout, as BVU extended the margin to 16-7 out of the break.  Central wasn't going to go down without a fight, as the Dutch clawed their way back to within 20-17, but the Beavers ran off five of the final six points to win the set, 25-20, and complete the three-set sweep.

The win was the first-ever over Central which had won the first 46 in a series that began all the way back in 1979.  BVU also improved to 2-1 on its home court this season.  The Dutch were picked to finish fifth in the league standings this season, one spot ahead of BVU.

"That [win over Centra] in intself is unique and something that this group can be very proud of," added Slight. "Tonight, we won this match as a team with strong performances on offense, defense and serving. Everyone was just one step better, and that's something we'll need to continue to do on this journey each time out."

Hannah Welter had seven kills to lead the Dutch (9-5, 0-1 IIAC), while Emily Stoakes added six.  As a team, Central was held to a .167 hitting percentage after ranking third in the IIAC entering the match with a .232 average. Claire Stewart turned in 14 assists, while Tori Zempel added 12 digs.

The Beavers improve to 9-7 (1-0 IIAC) on the year and will look to take the momentum into next Tuesday night's IIAC road match (September 23) at 22nd-ranked Coe College.  That match will also start at 7:00pm and be played varsity-only.