Bruins sweep Dakota State, fall to No. 23 Northwestern

Hastings Classic
Northwestern Box Score | Dakota State Box Score

HASTINGS, Neb. -- The 12th-ranked Bellevue University volleyball team split its two matches at the Hastings Classic Saturday at the Lynn Farrell Arena. The Bruins finished the tournament with a 2-2 record.

Bellevue opened the day with a 3-1 (25-22, 25-21, 21-25, 25-17) loss to No. 23 Northwestern (Iowa) College before posting a 28-26, 25-20, 25-12 sweep against Dakota State University.

The Bruins (8-3) will open conference play on Thursday, Sept. 12 when they travel to Forest City, Iowa for a 7:00 p.m. match at Waldorf College.

Northwestern 3, Bellevue 1

Northwestern hit .243 and tallied six service aces and 13 blocks as they posted the 3-1 win and improved to 12-1 on the season.

Beth Walker recorded 41 assists, seven digs and a career-high four service aces.

Sydney DeBoer registered 12 kills and four digs and Sunny Bell added 11 kills while Symone Faulkner notched four block assists.

Caitlyn Rueth (15), Meghan Evans (14) and Annie Benson (13) anchored the Bruins' defense with a combined 42 digs. Benson and Rueth both chipped in nine kills.

NWC scored 10 of the first 12 points and never trailed in the opening set as they won, 25-22. The Bruins used an 11-4 run to pull within one, 23-22, but the Red Raiders scored the final two points to win the game.

Trailing 21-18, the Red Raiders scored the final seven points of the second game fueled by two service aces and three hitting errors by the Bruins.

Despite being outhit by NWC, the Bruins won the third set, 25-21. BU opened the stanza on a 10-3 run and never trailed.

NWC erased an 11-9 deficit with a 16-6 run to win the fourth set, 25-17.

The Red Raiders were led by Kaitlin Floerchinger's 18 kills and 17 digs.

Bellevue 3, Dakota State 0

The Bruins hit a season-best .327 and seven different players tallied four or more kills as they swept DSU in their final match of the tournament. 

Bell led the team with 10 kills and 10 digs for her first career double-double. Bridgette Baden posted career-highs in digs (14), kills (9) and service aces (3).

Evans tallied 13 digs and four assists while Walker notched a double-double with 38 assists, 10 digs and four kills. Walker leads the Bruins with six double-doubles this season.

The first set featured 18 ties and nine lead changes before back-to-back kills by BU propelled the Bruins to the 28-26 win.  

The Bruins hit .387 in the second set and .405 in the third game to complete the sweep. Bell recorded nine of her 10 kills in the final two sets to lead the BU offensive attack.

DSU fell to 2-10 this season with the loss.