INDIANOLA, Iowa (Oct. 30, 2026) - The Buena Vista volleyball team returned to conference play on Friday night at Simpson College, and the Beavers went on to hand the Storm their first A-R-C loss with a 3-1 victory by scores of 20-25, 25-18, 25-20, 25-16.
BVU had 15 kills in the opening set compared to only nine for the Storm, but the Beavers couldn't overcome nine attack errors and seven serving errors in the set, as the Storm broke open a 17-16 lead late to go in front 23-19 and win 25-20.
The Beavers bounced back in a big way throughout the second by building a 20-12 lead and hung on for a 25-18 victory. Hernandez had seven of the team's 15 kills in the set, as BVU registered a .300 attack percentage. The momentum carried over into the third set with the Beavers building a 10-5 lead, and after seeing the Storm pull back within 12-11, they went on to score four straight and never looked back.Â
The Storm led 14-11 midway through the fourth set before the Beavers erupted on a 12-1 run which included six kills by BVU, and the team completed the win with a nine-point victory and snapped the Storm's eight-match overall win streak.
Hernandez, the league leader in kills per set this season, turned in 27 on the night which is fifth-most for a single-match in program history. She also posted a .396 attack percentage overall and chipped in with 19 digs for her 14th double-double of the year. Freshman
Nora Konz tallied 12 kills and 16 digs while senior
Hope Vanderlinden finished with nine kills and no errors on 17 swings for a .529 percentage. She, along with fellow senior
Sydney Meints, came up big defensively, with four block assists apiece.
JuniorsÂ
Merced Ramirez and
Anabel Seaman dished out 24 and 23 assists, respectively, as the Beavers finished the match with a .267 attack percentage.
Emily Williams was the only Storm player to reach double digits in kills and totaled 16 to go along with 10 digs. Simpson was held to 38 total kills and a .118 clip at the net.
Buena Vista improves to 21-2 on the year (4-1 A-R-C) and clinches a spot into the A-R-C Tournament for the first time since 2022. The Beavers will jump right back into action on Saturday afternoon at Central College (14-12, 1-4 A-R-C). The Dutch tripped up Nebraska Wesleyan on Friday night in five sets to earn their first conference victory of the season. First serve between the Beavers and Dutch is set for 1 p.m.
