RIPON, Wis. (Sept. 12, 2025) - The Buena Vista volleyball team played a pair of matches on the first night of the Ripon College Red Hawks Invite on Friday, and after a tough 3-0 loss to Central College, the Beavers rallied back for a 3-1 triumph against the host Red Hawks.

The Dutch (6-5) had 24 kills and only four attack errors over the first two sets combined and handed BVU 25-15 and 25-14 setbacks to begin the match. BVU finished with eight kills in all three sets and forced eight attack errors by Central in the third set but came up just short at 25-20.

Freshman Charley Hernandez had 12 of BVU's 24 total kills in the match and made only two errors en route to a career-high .357 attack percentage. She also chipped in with a team-leading eight digs. Fellow freshman Keylee Gregg was next on the attack with four kills and sophomore Merced Ramirez dished out 18 assists.

As a team, the Beavers finished with an attack percentage of .074 on 81 total swings. 

The Red Hawks overcame an 18-14 deficit in the opening set to tie things at both 19 and 21 and hand the Beavers a tough 25-23 loss. From there, BVU was able to bounce back and win the next three sets by scores of 25-20, 25-21, 25-16. In the second set, the team was able to take advantage of a pair of 5-0 runs and hold off the Red Hawks late rally. The Beavers trailed 6-1 out of the gate in the third set and began to chip away before using a 6-0 run to pull even at 11-11. From there, BVU was able to go in front but would not lead by more than two points until scoring the final two points to win by four.

It was all BVU in the fourth set after it scored the first seven points and extended it to 9-1. Ripon chipped away at that advantage and got as close as 11-9, but the Beavers never trailed in the set and would go on and win for the second time over their last three matches.

Gregg notched a career-high 17 kills, Hernandez added 15 and Sydney Meints followed with 11. Hernandez tallied a team-high 14 digs for her third career double-double (all over the last four matches). Gregg dug up a career-high 13 digs to finish off her second career double-double. Meints did not have a single attack error in 21 swings to post the team's highest attack percentage of the season at .524. Merced chimed with a new career-high of 41 assists to go along with her six kills and four digs. Sophomore Ashlyne Havermann and junior Marti Flores each added 10 digs.

The Beavers had a big showing at the net with an attack percentage of .284 on 141 attempts. Defensively, they picked up 11 total blocks and held Ripon (5-6) to a .128 clip overall.

Buena Vista is now 4-6 and is right back in action for two more matches to wrap up the Invite on Saturday morning. The team takes on Westminster College at 10 a.m. followed by Mount Mary at Noon.