Box Score

LA MIRADA, Calif. -- After suffering a disappointing five-set loss in the opening match of the day, the Bellevue University volleyball team rebounded with a thrilling five-game comeback upset over 10th-ranked College of Idaho in the final match of the Biola/Holiday Inn Summer Slam. The Bruins dropped the first two sets and saved three match points in the third before prevailing 23-25, 24-26, 31-29, 25-22, 15-13.

Seniors Kali Schnacker and Maureen Wardian combined for 41 kills to pace the Bruin attack.

Bellevue evened its record at 2-2 on the season. The Yotes fell to 3-1 overall.

Schnacker pounded a career-high 26 kills on .373 hitting and added three digs. Wardian hit .423 on the night with 15 kills and three blocks. 

Sophomore Annie Benson was the third Bruin in double figures with 13 kills, while adding five digs and two blocks. 

Junior setter Jordan Broady dished out a career-high 62 assists and added nine digs, four kills, and a pair of service aces. 

Sophomore libero Meghan Evans set a career high with 22 digs as four Bruins notched double-figure dig totals. The Bruins held a decisive 90-66 advantage in digs in the match. 

Kylee Nawahine paced COI with 18 kills. 

Schnacker was on fire in the opening set with six kills on six swings, including three during a 4-0 Bruin run that erased a 21-17 Yote lead. COI capalized on a BU attack error and a service error to pull out the 25-23 win in first set.

The Yotes raced out to an early 5-1 lead in the second, but the Bruins responded with a 6-2 spurt of their own to knot the game at 7 apiece. After COI inched away with a 20-14 margin, the Bruins used a 9-2 run and held two game points at 24-22. The Yotes, however, closed the game out with four-straight points to take a commanding 2-0 lead in the match. Schnacker, once again led the way in the second with six kills on nine swings. 

Seven kills by Schnacker, six from Wardian, and five from Benson helped the Bruins escape with the 31-29 win in the third. COI held three match points which were answered by kills from Wardian, Sunny Bell, and Sydney DeBoer, before a Yote service error and attack error gave BU the marathon win. 

COI looked in control in the fourth, storming out to a 5-0 lead thanks to four-straight Bruin attacking errors. However, BU clawed its way back with an 11-4 surge to take an 11-9 lead. The two teams traded points for the remainer of the fourth set, until a pair of kills from Wardian capped the Bruins' 25-22 win, forcing a decisive fifth set. Bell led the Bruins in the fourth with five kills.

After the Yotes took a 4-1 early lead in the fifth, Bellevue went on an 8-3 run highlighted by three kills from Benson to take a 9-7 lead. A kill from Schnacker gave the Bruins three match points at 14-11. A kill from Nawahine and an attack error from Bell pulled COI to within one point at 14-13. However, a service error by Whitney Owen gave the Bruins the dramatic marathon victory.

 The Bruins will open up the home portion of the 2011 schedule next Thursday-Saturday, Sept. 1-3, when they host the 13-team Bruin Labor Day Classic.