Shelby Bradley | Sports Co-Editor

On Friday, Oct. 21, the Buena Vista University (BVU) volleyball team secured their spot in the Iowa Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (IIAC) tournament for the third straight year with their 3-2 win over the Kohawks of Coe College.

The Beavers started the game with a thrilling 30-28 loss in the first set and lost the second set as well 25-17. The Beavers then came firing back in the third, fourth and fifth sets with wins of 25-15, 25-13 and 15-9 respectively. Junior, Jade Schaap led the team with her best overall performance of the year turning in a double-double of 25 kills and 20 digs. Senior, Maddie Bardole also added a double-double with 15 kills and 21 digs. Senior libero, Sydnee Donnelli led the team in digs with 27 while junior, Jamie Navinskey followed with 21.

The Beavers secured the sixth and final spot of the conference tournament with a record of 4-4 in the IIAC and 14-13 overall. The conference tournament will be taking place Friday and Saturday, Nov. 4-5, in Cedar Rapids at the US Cellular Center.

The conference tournament has a change of pace this year as many of the rules have been modified. Teams will now be playing every team that made it to the tournament within the two nights dedicated to the tournament; thus resulting in a conference championship match occurring on Saturday, Nov. 5.

With the Beavers having such a young team, the two seniors, Donnelli and Bardole, are thrilled about ending their final season as a Beaver at the conference tournament.

I try not to put the added pressure that it’s my senior year,” Bardole said. “This week leading up to the tournament, I have been working as hard as I possibly can. I don’t want to have any regrets. This has been an incredible journey and the outcome this weekend won’t change that for me.”

Donnelli and Bardole both strongly believe they have the chances of winning the conference tournament and qualifying for Nationals for the first time in the program’s history.

“In order to accomplish our goal, we need to come together as a team and play each game to the best of our ability. If we do that, there should be no reason why we don’t come back as IIAC Champions,” Donnelli said.

The Beavers kick off the tournament with a rematch against Coe first round on Friday, Nov. 4 at 4:30 p.m. inside the U.S. Cellular Center in Cedar Rapids, IA.

Photo courtesy: Emily Kenny