STORM LAKE, Iowa (Oct. 7, 2028) - The Buena Vista volleyball team was back home on Saggau Family Court inside of Siebens Fieldhouse on Tuesday night for the first time in two weeks, but the Beavers were edged in a three-set thriller by Wartburg College (12-7, 3-1 A-R-C) in an American Rivers Conference match.

Freshman Charley Hernandez had a strong night at the net with a match-high 14 kills,  to go along with seven digs and three ace serves. Sophomore Ashlyne Havermann had three kills, a pair of ace serves and a match-high 19 digs. Freshman Keylee Gregg and sophomore Merced Ramirez both added to the BVU back line defense with 14 and 10 digs, respectively. Defensively at the net, junior Sydney Meints registered three solo blocks to lead the charge with fellow junior Reese Nieuwenhuis adding two.

The Beaves jumped out to a strong 7-2 lead in the opening set before the Knights slowly chipped away and eventually fought back to tie things up at 10-10. It was a back-and-forth set the rest of the way with nine ties and three lead changes overall. The Knights held a 23-21 lead late before BVU tied it at 23-23 but back-to-back kills by Anna Sash gave Wartburg the opening set. Sash would go on to finish the match with a team-high nine kills and a .381 attack percentage.

Wartburg scored six of the first eight points of the second set and built an early 14-5 cushion before Sydney Meints hammered down consecutive kills followed by a pair of ace serves from Havermann that made it 14-9. BVU went on a late run to get within 21-19 down the stretch but the rally was halted by four straight miscues by the Beavers as the Knights went on to take the set 25-19.

Looking to keep the match alive and force a fourth set, BVU jumped out to a strong 7-1 start in the third set but the Knights had another answer by scoring nine of the next 10 points to take a 10-8 lead. The lead was extended to 16-11 midway through, and that was as close as the Beavers would be the rest of the way.

Both teams ended the match with 26 kills and 16 errors.

Next up for Buena Vista will be a pair of home matches on Friday, Oct. 10, sponsored by Central Bank. The Beavers will take the court first against Crown College (5-9) at 5 p.m. before playing Western Iowa Tech Community College approximately 30 minutes after the conclusion of that match.