EAU CLAIRE, Wis. (Sept. 15, 2023) - Senior Skylar Cole matched her career-high with 14 kills while junior Courtney Johnson turned in a season-high 14 kills, but that offensive production wasn't quite enough on Friday night as the Buena Vista volleyball team fell in four sets to Concordia (Minn.) to begin play at the 10th annual Sandy Schumacher Memorial Tournament, hosted by the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire.

Cole and Johnson were both forces at the net for the Beavers throughout the match. Johnson finished with an overall attack percentage of .478 on 24 swings while Cole wasn't far behind at .323 on 31 attempts. Senior Rachel Brockney chipped in with 10 kills and eight digs. Freshman Jilly Janssen dished out 36 assists to go along with 11 digs, while Molly Bense chipped in with four assists and a team-leading 14 digs.

As a team, BVU tallied 44 kills and a .208 percentage while the Cobbers had 41 kills and a .179 clip. The Beavers were hindered by 16 ace serves from Concordia.

The Cobbers rolled out to an 8-0 lead to begin the match and were in control most of the opening set. Buena Vista was able to get within 14-10 but got no closer than four points the rest of the set as Concordia went on to win 25-21. The Beavers did respond in a big way during the second stanza, using a big 8-0 surge midway through that opened up a 16-8 cushion. They closed out the set by scoring nine of the final 13 points to win 25-13.

BVU held an early lead in the third set and continued to stay in front, 15-14, midway through, but a pair of kills and two ace serves by the Cobbers pushed them out to a 19-15 advantage, and they would go on to win the set, 25-20. Concordia broke a 4-4 tie in the fourth set by rolling off four straight points and never looked back. Another big run late in the set gave the Cobbers a 22-12 lead, and they would go on to take the set, 25-20, and improve to 7-3 on the season.

Buena Vista is now 4-6 overall and will look to bounce back on Saturday to wrap up the trip with matches against Illinois Wesleyan at 10 a.m. and UW-Superior at 12 p.m. Live video and stats for both matches can be found at www.bvuathletics.com