Rueth's career night lifts Bellevue past William Penn

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CLINTON, Iowa -- Caitlyn Rueth pounded a career-high 18 kills to lead the 23rd-ranked Bellevue University volleyball team (13-4) to its eightth straight-set win this season, sweeping William Penn University (9-5) 25-21, 25-13, 25-11 Friday night in its second match of the Ashford Saints Invitational at Kehl Arena.

The Bruins will play host Ashford University tomorrow at 9:00 a.m. before concluding the tournament with a 3:00 p.m. match against Clarke University.

BU hit .274 and held the Statesmen to a .051 hitting clip. The Bruins also held a 47-23 edge in kills and a 51-44 advantage in digs.

Sydney DeBoer recorded nine kills and three blocks while Symone Faulkner added eight.

Jordan Broady dished out 25 assists to along with four digs and two kills in two sets, before Beth Walker played the third game. Walker, a freshman from Dubuque, Iowa notched 13 assists, seven digs and two block assists.

Meghan Evans notched 17 digs and two assists while Annie Benson registered 14 digs, four kills and two service aces to lead the BU defense.

The opening set was close throughout as neither team led by more than three points until the final point of the game. Trailing 19-17, the Bruins closed the frame on an 8-2 run to pull out a 25-21 fueled by three WPU errors and two kills from DeBoer and another by Courtney Hendricks.

Facing a 9-8 deficit, BU ended the second set by using a 17-4 spurt, including eight-straight points to win, 25-13. DeBoer and Rueth combined for 10 of the Bruins' 15 kills in the set to pace BU.

The Bruins hit .400 and never trailed in the final game en route to a 25-11 win.