BU topples No. 15 Doane in 5-set thriller

Box Score

BELLEVUE, Neb. -- The 19th-ranked Bellevue University volleyball team used double-figure kills from three players to pace the Bruins to a thrilling 3-2 (25-17, 26-28, 21-25, 25-16, 16-14) win over No. 15 Doane University in non-conference volleyball action Wednesday night at the Gordon Lozier Athletic Center. 

With the win, the Bruins improved to 13-3 on the season and are now 5-0 in five-set matches on the season. Doane fell to 9-6 overall. 

Shayla Scanlan led the offense with 18 kills while adding three blocks. Andrea Carson added 13 kills on .314 hitting and added a pair of digs. 

Maddie Squiers recorded her first career triple-double, finishing with 46 assists, 15 digs and 10 kills on .421 hitting. She also added three service aces while directing the BU offense to a .200 hitting percentage. 

Cheyenne Mahnke led four Bruin defenders in double figures, finishing with a career-high 22 digs. Fabiola Aviles and Lauren Colpitts each added 13 digs as BU held an 83-79 edge in total digs. 

Outside hitters Allison Kuenle (16) and Madison VanHousen (10) combined for 26 kills to lead the Tiger offense.

Bellevue took advantage of nine DU hitting errors in the opening set and got three kills from Scanlan and Squiers to cruise to the 25-17 win. 

The second set featured 15 ties and seven lead changes before the Tigers capitalized on their fourth set point attempt on an attack error by Rachel Wald, giving DU the set, 28-26.   

The Tigers hit .333 in the third set while limiting the BU offense to .158 as DU took a 2-1 lead with the 25-21 win.

The Bruins dominated the fourth set from start to finish, led by Carson's four kills on seven errorless swings as the Bruins knotted the contest at two sets apiece. 

Bellevue raced out to leads of 8-3 and 12-8 in the fifth set before the Tigers used a 4-0 run to tie the contest at 12-12. After a kill by Scanlan and a block by Scanlan and Gillespie gave the Bruins a 14-12 lead and two match points, DU tied the set on a kill by Kuenle and attack error by Scanlan. After a kill by Scanlan produced BU's third match point, Mahnke's service ace gave BU the dramatic, 16-14 win.  

The Bruins resume conference play on Friday night, Sept. 22, when they entertain Valley City State University beginning at 6:30 p.m. in the Gordon Lozier Athletic Center.