Women's Volleyball | 11/5/2019 9:28:00 PM

Box Score DUBUQUE - It was a heartbreaking end to the season for the Buena Vista University volleyball team after the Beavers suffered a five-set road loss at the University of Dubuque on Tuesday night in the quarterfinal round of the American Rivers Conference Tournament.

BVU, which swept the Spartans earlier in the year at Storm Lake, came out strong with a 25-21 victory in the opening set, and saw senior libero Summer Goss become the program's all-time leader in digs with her third of the set.

After chalking up 16 kills in that opening frame, the Beavers couldn't keep the momentum going, registering only eight in the second as the Spartans came up with 17 en route to a 25-17 victory.  BVU, however, bounced back in the third in what was a back-and-forth set by holding off Dubuque, 25-23.

The third-seed Spartans (20-10) again evened the match with a 25-17 victory in the fourth and the Beavers were unable to recover from a rough start in the decisive fifth.  BVU fell behind in the final frame, 5-0, and continued to trail 11-5 late.  The Beavers did try and make a final charge, but the rally came up short as they saw their season come to an end with a 15-11 loss.

Sophomore Sydney McLaren turned in a team-high 16 kills, despite taking 63 total attempts and added a double-double with 12 digs.  Hannah Smith had 12 kills while Taylor Caves registered 10 kills and just one error for a match-high .450 attack percentage.  Taylor Wedemeyer dished out 46 assists and completed her double-double with 15 digs.

Goss left everything out on the court in her final career match, registering 29 digs to cap her career with 1,582.  She broke Maddie Bardole's (2013-16) all-time mark of 1,555.  Camryn McClintock chipped in with 16 digs while Jade Hays added 11.

"This loss hurts, especially since we took set one and were up by two to one," said BVU head coach Aubrey Havlichek.  "I'm so proud of this young team, there is so much good to look forward to.  We came up just short tonight.  Dubuque has been here, is far more experienced and had the age on us, credit to them.  But I'm proud of us for fighting.  Summer had a stellar last match with 29 digs and breaking the career record.  Taylor Caves was lights out in the middle.  I'm so excited for the future of BV volleyball, but heartbroken to come up just short.  We have alot of good going for us and alot to work on."

Buena Vista wraps up its season at 11-18 overall.  The match also was the final one for Emily Ivey, despite missing the majority of the year due to injury.