HIGHLAND HEIGHTS, Ky. – The Bellarmine University volleyball team opened play in the Northern Kentucky University Tournament on Friday with losses to the California University of Pennsylvania and Gannon University at Regents Hall.

The Knights (3-3) return to the court on Saturday for a match against Wheeling Jesuit University from the West Virginia Intercollegiate Athletic Conference.  First serve is scheduled for noon.

MATCH RECAPS

California (Pa.) 3, Bellarmine 0

The Knights were swept 25-21, 25-23, 25-20 in the opening match of the day against the Vulcans.  Alyson Harmeling converted on a team high 10 of her 19 attacks for a .421 kill percentage.

Bellarmine managed to keep the first two sets close until late, but could not withstand late charges by the Vulcans.

Kaitlin Young and Kaitlan Harris each had 10 defensive digs for the match, and setter Bailey BredenbeckCorp had 18 assists.

Boxscore

Gannon 3, Bellarmine 1

The Knights could not contain a barrage of attack errors in an 18-25, 25-14, 25-15, 25-17 loss to the Golden Knights.  As a team, the Knights tallied 41 kills, but were done in with 39 attack errors.

Trailing 23-6 in Set 4, the Knights rallied to score 11 of the next 12 points, but could not make up the difference.  The Golden Knights had 18 total blocks, compared to BU's five on the day.

Bellarmine prevailed in a back-and-forth opening set.  With the score tied at 14, the Knights went on an 8-2 run, highlighted by a trio of kills by Emily Beckman to secure the early advantage. 

The Golden Knights tore open the match in the ensuing set as Bellarmine had 12 errors compared to 11 kills, while Gannon was paced by a .562 attack percentage.

Set 3 saw the Knights fall behind 8-1 early as Gannon's Morgan Reineke connected on five kills in the run, leading to a total of eight for the set and 16 for the match.

Beckman led the team with 10 kills to go with her 10 digs, while BredenbeckCorp contributed 28 assists.  Harris had a team high 15 digs.