Bruins go 4-0 in Grand View Tournament with pair of wins

Indiana Wesleyan Box Score | Bethel Box Score

DES MOINES, Iowa -- The Bellevue University volleyball team improved to 4-0 on the season with wins over No. 17 Indiana Wesleyan University and Bethel (Ind.) College Saturday in the final day of the the Grand View Volleyball Tournament inside the Charles S. Johnson Wellness Center.

Bellevue defeated Indiana Wesleyan 3-2 (21-25, 25-21, 21-25, 25-14, 15-12) before downing Bethel 3-1 (25-22, 26-28, 25-15, 25-21).

The 12th-ranked Bruins will make their home debut when they host the 20-team Bruin Labor Day Classic on Aug. 30-31.

Bellevue 3, Indiana Wesleyan 2

For the second-straight match, the Bruins erased a 2-1 deficit to pull out a 3-2 comeback win over No. 17 Indiana Wesleyan, fueled by Sydney DeBoer's career-high 22 kills.

Joining DeBoer in double figures, included Annie Benson who tallied 14 kills and 21 digs and Caitlyn Rueth who added 12 kills and 11 digs. 

Beth Walker also tallied a double-double with a career-high 58 assists to go along with 11 digs and two service aces.

Meghan Evans tied Benson with a team-high 21 digs in the contest.

Leading 17-15, IWU scored eight of the final 14 points to take the opening set, 25-21, capped off by a pair of Katey Holler service aces.

With BU leading, 16-10, the Wildcats used a 5-2 spurt to cut their deficit down to three, 18-15, but IWU never got any closer as the Bruins took the second set, 25-21. DeBoer led the offensive attack with five kills on seven swings as the Bruins hit .290. 

IWU led the entire third game en route to a 25-21 win. The Bruins were plagued by five hitting errors in the frame. The Wildcats registered four service aces and hit .324.    

The Bruins raced out to a 17-9 lead and the Wildcats never got any closer than six points the remaining of the set as BU cruised to a 25-14 win and force a fifth game. The Bruins recorded 16 kills on .382 hitting and forced IWU into six hitting errors.

The deciding fifth set included five ties and two lead changes with neither team holding a lead of more than three points. After a IWU kill cut BU's advantage down to one, 10-9, the Bruins finished the match on a 5-3 run to win, 15-12. Sunny Bell and DeBoer each tallied three kills to pace the offense.

Bellevue 3, Bethel 1

Benson recorded her fourth-straight double-double, leading the Bruins with 21 kills and 12 kills to go along with two blocks in BU's 25-22, 26-28, 25-15, 25-21 win over Bethel. 

Bell finished with 17 kills on .308 hitting as five Bruins collected at least seven kills in the Bruins' balanced attack. 

Evans paced the BU defense with a match-high 19 digs, while adding two service aces and a pair of set assists. 

Walker narrowly missed a double-double with 55 assists and nine digs while directing the BU offense to a .252 attack percentage in the match. 

Despite eight hitting errors, the Bruins took set one, 25-22. Trailing 20-17, BU ended the game on an 8-2 run capped off by a Walker service ace. Bell, Benson and DeBoer combined for 15 of the team's 18 kills.

The Pilots save two game points in the second frame as BU suffered 10 hitting errors, while hitting just .040 in the 28-26 loss. 

Bellevue hit a blistering .533 to cruise to the 25-15 win in the third. The Bruins had just six total attack errors in the final two sets, while pulling out the four-game victory.