BELLEVUE, Neb. — The seventh-ranked Bellevue University volleyball team picked up a pair of victories on Friday on the opening day of play at the Marvel Classic being played at the Gordon Lozier Athletic Center. BU downed (RV) Ottawa (Kan.) University 3-1 (25-23, 26-24, 23-25, 25-20) in the opener before closing the day with a 3-0 (25-17, 25-22, 25-18) sweep over (RV) Columbia (Mo.) College.
With the two wins, the Bruins improved to 20-3 on the season, running their winning streak to six matches.
Bellevue will conclude the tournament on Saturday (Oct. 12) with an 11:30 a.m. matchup against Carroll (Mont.) College.
Savanna Berger led five Bruins in double figures as BU opened the Marvel Classic with a 3-1 (25-23, 26-24, 23-25, 25-20) victory over (RV) Ottawa University. Berger hit .565 in the match while adding three blocks and a dig.
Kealy Kiviniemi pounded 14 kills on .243 hitting, along with four blocks. Haley Fleischman finished with 10 kills on 21 errorless swings and added three blocks. Aspen Meyer collected a career-high 10 kills, along with three digs. Eve Fountain registered 10 kills and four digs in the victory.
Mila Aiwohi (32) and Victoria Runyan (22) combined for 54 assists while directing the BU offense to a .268 hitting percentage. Taylan Keefer paced the Bruin defense with a team-high 16 digs.
Ariana Arciniega led the Braves with 14 kills and eight digs. Radaisy Valdez added 13 kills, five blocks, and four digs.
The Bruins overcame an early 12-9 deficit in the opening set, using a 6-0 run to take a 15-12 lead, capped by kills from Kiviniemi, Meyer, and Fleischman. The Braves countered with a 5-1 run to take a 20-19 lead. After trading the next four points, BU got consecutive kills from Fountain and Kiviniemi and an OU attacking error to gain a 24-22 lead. A Bruin service error made it 24-23. A kill by Meyer gave BU the first set, 25-23. Kiviniemi and Berger both had four kills to lead BU in the opening frame.
Highlighted by a pair of kills from Berger and Meyer, the Bruins used a 7-1 run to gain a 10-4 edge in the second stanza. After a kill by Meyer gave the Bruins an 18-11 lead, OU used an 8-2 run to pull to within one point at 20-19. The Braves tied the set at 21-all after consecutive kills by Hollie Peters and Valdez. After BU scored two straight, the Braves responded with three in a row to gain a set point at 24-23. BU scored three straight, including a kill by Kiviniemi and a block by Berger and Meyer to escape with the 26-24 victory.
Powered by four kills from Arciniega, the Braves raced out to an 11-4 lead in the third set. Back-to-back overpass kills by Meyer, and a block by Berger and Kiviniemi helped BU storm back to take a 16-15 lead. After OU gained a 23-21 advantage, the Bruins tied it up with a kill by Fleischman and a block by Kiviniemi and Fleischman. The Braves earned the set with back-to-back blocks by Brittan Lee and Arciniega on Kiviniemi, giving OU the 25-23 win.
Neither team led by more than two points in the fourth frame until a kill by Sidney Sledge gave BU a 15-12 advantage. BU extended the margin to five points at 21-16 following a pair of Brave errors. A kill by Campbell Stark and a block by Arciniega and Stark on Meyer pulled OU to within three points at 23-20. A kill by Berger and an attack error by Arciniega gave BU the match, 25-20.
Fountain led BU in the nightcap with 13 kills on .524 hitting while adding eight digs and a pair of blocks. Kiviniemi produced 10 kills with no errors on 17 swings. Berger finished with eight kills on .667 hitting as BU hit a season-high .500 in the sweep.
Runyan (23) and Mila Aiwohi (21) guided the efficient BU offense with a combined 44 assists.
Keefer paced the Bruin defense with 10 digs.
Allana Capella led the Cougars with 12 kills on .455 hitting. Mariana DeCarvalho added 11 kills and four digs.
A pair of kills by Berger and a solo block by Fountain keyed a 4-0 BU run as the Bruins gained a 10-6 advantage in the opening set. After the Cougars countered with a three-point surge to pull to within one at 12-11, back-to-back kills from Kiviniemi and two kills from Berger and Meyer helped push BU ahead 22-14. The two teams traded points for the remainder of the set as the Bruins earned the 25-17 victory. Led by Berger and Fountain with five kills apiece, Bellevue did not commit a hitting error in the opening set, hitting .586 with 17 kills on 29 swings.
The Bruins cooled off in the second set, committing three early hitting errors as the Cougars took a 9-6 lead. CC maintained a three-point advantage until the Bruins got consecutive kills from Meyer and Berger to pull to within one point at 21-20. Kills by Runyan and Fountain and back-to-back service aces by Kenzie Polk gave BU a 24-22 lead. A Fountain kill sealed the second set 25-22 victory. Fountain paced BU in the second frame with five kills.
After Bellevue gained an early four-point advantage in the third set, the Cougars battled back to within two points twice before BU pulled away for a six-point edge following another service ace by Polk, making it 21-15. The Cougars never got closer than four points the remainder of the set as the Bruins earned the sweep with the 25-18 victory.
