Bruins sweep Crusaders in "Dig Pink" match

Box Score

BELLEVUE, Neb. -- The Bellevue University volleyball team swept Evangel University 3-0 (25-16, 25-16, 25-23) Friday night at the Gordon Lozier Athletic Center as part of "Dig Pink," an annual fundraiser to help raise awareness and money in the fight against breast cancer.

The Bruins improved to 20-5, while the Crusaders fell to 24-5. This also marks the second time BU has defeated EU this season, as the Bruins edged the Crusaders in five sets on Sept. 17 at the MidAmerica Nazarene Tournament.

For the second straight match, Annie Benson paced the Bruin offense with 13 kills on .455 hitting. Jordan Broady dished out a match-high 34 assists along with eight digs while directing the BU offense to a .283 hitting percentage. Defensively, five different Bruins tallied five or more digs. Maureen Wardian notched six block assists to help limit EU to a .119 hitting clip.

With the Bruins holding onto a four-point lead in the opening set, 12-8, BU would end the stanza by scoring 13 of the final 21 points to win, 25-16. Bellevue hit .522 and pounded 14 kills with only two errors while limiting EU to just .087 hitting. Sydney DeBoer, Kali Schnacker and Sunny Bell each recorded three kills apiece to lead the Bruins.

Bellevue used a 6-1 run midway through the second set to sieze control. After a Bruin service error cut their lead down to three, 15-12, BU ended the set on a 10-4 run fueled by six errors by the Crusaders. Benson led the way for the Bruins notching five kills on seven swings, without an error.

After facing an early 6-1 deficit in the third game, the Bruins rallied and eventually took their first lead at 14-12. The two teams would trade points the remainer of the set capped off by a kill from Benson who led BU with six kills on nine attempts.
 
The Bruins will return to conference action next week when they host York College on Tuesday, Oct. 18 at 7:00 p.m.