The Buena Vista volleyball team returned to Siebens Fieldhouse on Thursday night and fought hard throughout its non-conference match against Martin Luther to hold off the Knights in three sets (25-22, 25-15, 26-24).

Freshman Maddie Bardole led all players with 17 kills and an overall hitting percentage of .368.  Chelsea Clayton and Shelby Wiederhoeft narrowly missed out being in double-digits with nine and eight, respectively, as the Beavers finished the match with an overall percentage of .246.

Junior Jordan Leehy surpassed 700 kills on the year by dishing out 35, to go along with her 12 digs, defensively.  Taylor Salisbury led all players with 18 digs, while Bardole followed with 16.  Jordan Henningsen turned in 13 digs, while chipping in with one of the team's four ace serves.

BVU broke open a 2-2 opening set by scoring five of the next six points to take the early 7-3 lead.  The Knights pulled back even at 12-12.  BVU took the 13-12 advantage and never trailed from there, despite not leading by more than two until the final margin.

It was all Beavers in the second set, as they rolled off eight straight points with Leehy serving to extend a 6-3 lead to a 14-3 advantage.  Martin Luther was never able to sustain enough of a rally, and BVU cruised to the 10-point win.

The Beavers then had to fight their way back in the third set after trailing 4-0 in the early going.  They went on to score five of the next six points to even things up at 5-5 and things went back-and-forth the rest of the way.

Martin Luther (11-9) the built a 20-16 lead later in the match before BVU again came back with five of the next six points to square things up at 21-21.  The Knights would later lead 23-22, but were unable to close out the Beavers.  Martin Luther faced set point, but served into the net, and that set up the finish for BVU as Chelsea Clayton turned in one of her nine kills for a one-point lead before the Knights were unable to return the ball on the following point to secure the win for the Beavers.

Buena Vista improves to 13-7 overall and 3-2 on its home court this season.  The team looks to add to the win total when it takes part in the Carleton College Triangular this Saturday afternoon.  BVU opens against UW-Superior at 3:00pm followed by a 5:00pm match against the host school.