STORM LAKE, Iowa (Oct. 17,  2026) - The Buena Vista volleyball team put its unbeaten season record on the line as it went up against No. 17 University of Dubuque on Saturday in front of an electric crowd inside of Siebens Fieldhouse, but came up just short in what was a thrilling five-set showdown with the Spartans.

BVU went on a big 7-2 run late in the opening set and faced set point at 24-23 which forced the Spartans to call time out. Dubuque came out of the break and would go on to score the final three points and end the Beavers' consecutive win streak at 27 with a 26-24 victory.

Dubuque built a 10-5 advantage in the second set before the Beavers caught fire and fought back within 13-12. Dubuque remained in front at 20-18 before it pulled away down the stretch by rolling off four straight points en route to a 25-19 win.

The two teams switched sides of the court but BVU wasn't about to go away and jumped out to a quick 6-1 lead in the third. Dubuque slowly chipped away and clawed itself back to 17-15. Freshman Nora Konz came up with a pair of big kills down the stretch and extended the lead to 20-16. The Spartans kept putting pressure on and eventually tied things up at 21-21. Sophomore Charley Hernandez came up in the clutch the entire match and put BVU back in front with a kill while junior Ashlynn Havermann kept the Beavers alive with a kill to win the set at 25-22 and send the Fieldhouse crowd into a frenzy.

In the fourth set, it was another back-and-forth dog fight between the two sides with BVU needing a big 4-0 run that put the Beavers in front 22-17. Dubuque, however, came right back with four straight to make it a one-point margin but another kill from Konz put the Beavers in front 23-21. After a Spartans kill, Hernandez notched another kill of her own to put BVU at set point before senior Hope Vanderlinden forced the decisive fifth set with an ace serve.

Dubuque seized control early in the final set by scoring the first three points and extending the margin to 5-1 and forcing a BVU timeout. The Beavers fought back to 7-6 midway through, but Dubuque went on a 6-0 run from there that included four attack errors from BVU, and eventually won the set 15-8.

The match featured the A-R-C's top two leaders in kills per set this season in Dubuque's Delainey Winkel (4.44) and Buena Vista's Charley Hernandez (4.36). Hernandez came away with a match-high 26 kills and an attack percentage of .254 to move back in front of Winkel. BVU did well in keeping Winkel in check with 13 kills and a .159 percentage. Hernandez also posted a career-high 27 digs to mark her 11th double-double of the year.

Konz heated up late in the match and finished with 13 kills and 19 digs while Havermann and senior Sydney Meints both followed with eight kills. Havermann also added three solo blocks and eight digs. Junior setters Merced Ramirez and Anabel Seaman each posted doubles with 29 and 26 assists, respectively, and adding 12 and 13 digs.  Freshman libero Kaylee Wray posted her career-high with 24 digs and also dished out five assists.

Chloe Reiser led Dubuque (19-4, 3-0 A-R-C) with 15 kills and 10 digs while Winkel had the 13 kills to go along with 15 digs. Alexis Kammerer dished out 45 assists and had 15 digs.

Buena Vista (17-1, 2-1 A-R-C) will look to bounce back on Tuesday, Oct. 20 when it travels to Lincoln, Neb., for a non-conference match against Nebraska Wesleyan starting at 7 p.m.