GRINNELL, Iowa (Sept. 10, 2025) - The Buena Vista volleyball team was on the road at Grinnell College on Wednesday night and left Darby Gymnasium with a thrilling five-set victory over the Pioneers (21-25, 25-15, 25-23, 23-25, 15-9).

For the second straight match, freshman Charley Hernandez set career-highs in kills with 18 and posted her second straight double-double by turning in 13 digs. She totaled 51 swings on the night and finished with a strong .216 attack percentage. Freshman Keylee Gregg set a career-high with 13 kills and turned in her first collegiate double-double with 12 digs. Junior Sydney Meints chipped in with 11 kills to go along with a team-high five block assists.

Sophomore Merced Ramirez had a big night of her own by dishing out a career-high 38 assists and adding a team-high 20 digs. Fellow sophomore Ashlyne Havermann matched her career-high for the second straight match with 19 digs.

The Pioneers led 18-13 in the opening set before BVU rolled off a big run and pulled even at 19-19 before going ahead briefly at 20-19. A serving error by the Beavers tied it at 20-20 and Grinnell followed with consecutive kills to go up 22-20 en route to the four-point win.

It was essentially all Beavers in the second set as they jumped out to a quick 6-2 lead and extended the cushion to 11-4. Later in the set, the team scored five straight points which was capped by two straight ace serves from Ramirez that made it 17-7, and BVU went on to win by 10.

BVU carried the momentum into the start of the third set by scoring four of the first five points before the Pioneers settled in and crawled back to eventually tie things up at 6-6. Grinnell appeared to be in control late after scoring five straight to lead 16-13 but the Beavers just wouldn't go away. After trailing 18-14, a kill from Meints and consecutive ace serves from Olivia Gordon helped spark a pivotal 7-0 run for BVU that gave the team a 21-18 lead. It pushed it up to 24-19 and had to stave off a furious rally from the Pioneers but secured the set win with a kill from Hernandez.

The Beavers seemed in full control of the fourth set by jumping out to a 10-2 advantage but couldn't keep the pressure on and let the Pioneers back into it by scoring six of the next eight points to make it 12-8. BVU continued to led 19-13 late but allowed Grinnell to use another big run to take a 20-19 lead. Later in the set, the Beavers were clinging to a 23-20 lead but couldn't finish off the Pioneers and eventually dropped the set 25-23 to send the match to the decisive fifth set.

In the final stanza, it was back-and-forth early on with nearly team leading by more than two points until a kill from Meints sparked a 4-0 surge and put BVU in front 12-7. Hernandez closed the door on the match with her 18th and final kill to make it 15-9.

Buena Vista had at least 10 kills in all five sets with 11 of the 15 points scored in the fifth set alone coming on the attack. The team also used the serve to its advantage by chalking up a season-best 19 and having four different players record four each.

The Beavers improve to 3-5 overall and will remain on the road this weekend to compete in the Redhawks Invite, hosted by Ripon College on Sept. 12-13. On Friday, the team begins play by facing A-R-C rival Central College at 5 p.m. and then taking on the host Redhawks at 7 p.m.