STORM LAKE, Iowa (Sept. 26, 2023) - The Buena Vista volleyball team hosted Wartburg College to begin American Rivers Conference play on Tuesday night, but the Knights came into Siebens Fieldhouse and swept the Beavers by scores of 25-11, 25-17 and 25-20.

BVU struggled out of the gate to get things going, falling behind 6-0 in the opening set. The Knights continued to pull away, building the margin to 17-5 before later scoring four of the final five points to claim the set. The Beavers never led in the second set, as the Knights scored four of the first five points and led by as many as nine points at 19-10.

Buena Vista kept things close throughout the third set with six ties in the early going before the Beavers broke an 8-8 tie to take a slim 10-8 lead. From there, however, Wartburg regained control by scoring six straight points for a 14-10 lead. BVU forced a timeout late after pulling back within 21-19, but the rally ended there as the Knights closed the door by again scoring four of the final five.

Seniors Skylar Cole and Rachel Brockney tallied eight and six kills, respectively, to help lead the charge for BVU at the net. The Beavers tallied 25 total kills in the match and were held to an .071 attack percentage on 98 total swings.

Freshman Jilly Janssen dished out 21 assists and posted seven digs while fellow first-year Hope Vanderlinden came off the bench and matched a career-high by leading all Beavers with nine digs.

Allison Feigenbaum led all players in the match with 11 kills for Wartburg (6-10, 1-0 A-R-C) while Abby Hamman chipped in with 10.

Buena Vista drops to 6-8 on the year (0-1 A-R-C) and briefly steps out of conference play to host St. Catherine on Saturday afternoon at 3 p.m. as part of Family Weekend on campus for BVU.