INDIANAPOLIS, In. – Bellarmine volleyball opened the third weekend of its season with a 3-1 (25-20, 25-20, 19-25, 26-24) victory over IU Indy Thursday night, the first day of the Hampton Inn Invite held at IU Indy's The Jungle.
The win ends Bellarmine's three match losing streak from its trip to James Madisons' LD&B Insurance Invitational last weekend and moves the Knights to 3-4 overall on the year. Tonight's victory was also BU's first over IU Indy in the Division I era.
In her first career start, freshman Abby Julius led Bellarmine with 17 kills while hitting an efficient .316 and adding, five digs, four aces and a block. Junior Natalie Bland was second on the team, turning in 14 eliminations on the night with six digs, one assist, one block and one ace. Senior Kylie Van Hoy paced the offense with 38 assists while also contributing 11 digs for her third double-double of the season. Sophomore Payton Parsons was everywhere on the defensive end, racking up 20 digs.
As a team, Bellarmine tallied 11 service aces while committing just six errors. On the other side of the net, IU Indy (4-3) recorded 15 service errors with only two aces.
Set 1
The first set was a back-and-forth affair in the beginning. Tied at 4-4, IU Indy turned in the game's first run, scoring three straight points to go up 7-4. From there, the Jaguars held a steady lead all the way into the media timeout, still up 15-13. Out of the break, Bellarmine turned up the pressure, scoring two of the first three points to even the score at 16-16. The Knights took the lead at 19-18, their first since they scored the first point of the stanza to go up 1-0. From there, BU went on a 6-2 run to claim the first set 25-20.
Set 2
Bellarmine used momentum from the first to set the tone for the second set, jumping out to an early 5-3 lead. The Knights continued to maintain control of the stanza and broke the game open with a 6-0 scoring run to take a comfortable 16-9 lead. IU Indy did not give up however, scratching all the way back to within one point at 19-18. Bellarmine scored back-to-back points to regain a three-point margin, up 21-18 before going on to take the second set 25-20 for a 2-0 lead in the match.
Set 3
After the intermission, IU Indy was ready to play. The Jaguars went up 7-3 early in the third. Bellarmine fought back, squaring things up at 10-10. From there, the two teams traded points until IU Indy found and edge with a 16-14 lead. Bellarmine got within one at 18-17 and tried to complete the sweep but, despite their effort, IU Indy would go on to take the third set 25-19 to stay alive in the match.
Set 4
The Knights once again jumped in front out of the gates, going up 4-2 to start the fourth. BU held its lead, pushing it as high as three at 8-5, but IU Indy worked its way back to a tie at 9-9. The Jaguars used the momentum to shift the set in their favor, taking a four-point lead at 19-15. BU called a timeout to talk things over, working out a gameplan to get them back within two at 22-20. Another point for IU Indy forced the Knights to use their second timeout at 23-20. The break was fruitful for Bellarmine once again as the Knights ripped off three of four points to get back within one, down 24-23 and force the Jaguars to use a timeout, their first since the second set. The break only revitalized the Knights though as Bellarmine evened the score 24-24, forcing the final IU Indy timeout. Out of the final break, Bellarmine rallied two straight points to win the set 26-24 and secure the match 3-1.
Up next, Bellarmine will take on Northen Illinois University on Friday, September 12 at 4 pm E.T. on day two of the Hampton Inn Invite at The Jungle.
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