MORRIS, Minn. (Sept. 18, 2026) - The historic start to the 2026 season continued for the Buena Vista volleyball team on Friday night as they began play at the UM-Morris Quadrangular with two more victories, including a new school record for most wins to begin a campaign after notching a thrilling five-set victory over Concordia College (MN) in the opening contest. The Beavers wrapped up the day with a convincing 3-0 sweep of Martin Luther College.
Sophomore
Charley Hernandez added to the historic win for the Beavers over the Cobbers by registering a career-high 30 kills in the match which is also tied for the second-most by any player in any match in program history. The last to reach the plateau was Jade Schaap who also turned in 30 versus Luther College in a five-set match on October 13, 2014. Maddie Bardole holds the record at 33 set on Sept. 14, 2014 against Gustavus Adolphus.
Hernandez finished with a double-double in the match, as she also added a career-high with 25 kills, surpassing her previous high of 23 last season. Freshman
Nora Konz turned in 17 kills and 12 digs while senior
Hope Vanderlinden reached double figures for the first time on the year at 12 kills. Juniors
Merced Ramirez (32 assists) and
Anabel Seaman (30 assists) fed the hot hands all match long with Seaman also adding a double-double with 11 digs.
The last time a BVU team started 7-0 was back in 1998. No other group had started better than 4-0 since rally scoring began in 2003.
As a team, BVU chalked up 80 kills and turned in an attack percentage of .237. It held the Cobbers to only 51 kills and a .185 percentage. Freshman
Kaylee Wray chipped in with 18 digs
BVU extended its consecutive sets won streak to 22 after taking the opening set from the Cobbers 25-21. That streak ultimately came to an end in the second set after squandering a late lead and falling 25-23. The Cobbers (4-5 overall) handed the Beavers a second straight loss after rallying from a 24-21 deficit to win 28-26. BVU did get back on track with a convincing 25-13 win in the fourth before taking control midway through the fifth set to win 15-10.
The team remained unbeaten on the year as it rolled to a 3-0 sweep over Martin Luther for the second time in a week. The Knights kept things much closer than the match played in Storm Lake last Saturday afternoon. BVU, with little rest after the five-set thriller, came out and pulled away in the opening set for a 25-14 victory. The Beavers completed the sweep with 25-19 and 25-18 victories, respectively.
It was a balanced offensive attack led by eight kills and two errors from Hernandez, who surpassed 400 career kills in the match. Freshman
Jocelyn O'Neal followed with seven kills while Vanderlinden and junior
Ashlyne Havermann each had five. O'Neal had just one error on her 14 total attacks and turned in a .400 percentage. Ramirez and Seaman tallied 14 and 12 assists, respectively, with Seaman also chipping in with six digs. Wray led all players with eight digs in the contest and ranks sixth in the A-R-C at 3.76 digs per set on the year.
Buena Vista improves to 9-0 and remains the only unbeaten team in the A-R-C this season. The Beavers will close out the trip on Saturday morning (Sept. 19) against UM-Morris (5-2) at 10 a.m. The Cougars also swept past Martin Luther (25-22, 25-18, 25-20) in the first match on Friday afternoon.
