WINONA, Minn. (Sept. 6, 2024) - The Buena Vista University volleyball played its first two matches of the Sugar Loaf Classic, hosted by St. Mary's University (MN), on Friday night by sweeping past MSOE and falling 3-1 to UW-La Crosse.

It was a balanced offensive attack in the opener for BVU as six different players turned in at least five kills. Sophomore Jadyn Rausch led the way with nine to go along with her 28 assists and five digs. Junior Kyla Vaughn was right behind with eight kills while fifth-year Rachel Brockney turned in seven. As a team, the Beavers totaled 41 kills and a strong .208 overall attack percentage. Defensively, junior Mallory Ignaszewski chalked up a match-high 20 digs with Lacie Davis adding nine.

MSOE's Emma Schattschneider led all players with 10 kills and added 15 digs.

It was a tight match throughout with BVU rallying late in the opening set to score the final three points and win a 26-24 thriller. The second set was back-and-forth from the opening serve and was tied at 9-9 before back-to-back attack errors by MSOE led to a 10-3 surge by the Beavers en route to a 25-20 victory. BVU closed the door in the third set by scoring the first five points of the frame and pulled away late by rolling off the final seven to win 25-15.

BVU carried that momentum over into the start of its final match of the night against UW-La Crosse and jumped out to a 1-0 lead after a nail-biting 27-25 triumph in the first set. The Eagles, however, bounced back in a big way to claim the next three sets by scores of 25-21, 25-19, 25-16.

The Beavers came out strong and posted 26 kills and only eight attack errors over the first two sets but then cooled off to the tone of 15 kills and 12 errors over the third and fourth.

Brockney had a big match with a season-high 19 kills and only five errors while posting a .280 attack percentage. Vaughn, along with freshman Merced Ramirez, were next in line with six kills apiece with Ramirez also chipping in with 15 digs. Ignaszewski led the way with 24 digs while Rausch dished out 32 assists.

Buena Vista now sits at 2-5 on the year and wraps up the Classic on Saturday morning with matches against Carleton College (9 a.m.) and the host Cardinals at 11 a.m.