LOUISVILLE, Ky.—In what will go down as one of the best wins to date in Bellarmine volleyball history, the host Knights knocked off the No. 1 team in the land in five sets today at Knights Hall.
The Lewis Flyers came in with a No. 1 national ranking and a 15-match winning streak, but the Knights prevailed in the Great Lakes Valley Conference match 25-18, 26-28, 25-18, 13-25, 15-13.
Bellarmine set a "refuse to lose" tone for match early in the first game. With the Flyers holding a 7-4 lead, the Knights roared back with a 6-0 run to take a lead they would never surrender in their 25-18 first set victory.
Set two was a heartbreaking loss for the Knights. After holding the lead most of the way, Bellarmine saw two set points slip away before the Flyers scored the final three points to take a 28-26 win.
Bellarmine rebounded for another solid win in the third set, but Lewis dominated set four to square the match.
The Knights' "refuse to lose" attitude showed up again in the deciding set, never trailing in the frame to earn the hard-fought victory. However, the Flyers never allowed much separation in the final set with BU's largest margin being three at 14-11. After the Flyers thwarted two match points, Bellarmine's
Margaret Horihan recorded her 16th kill of the match with a smash to the back left corner of the court to give the Knights a 15-13 win and complete the upset of No. 1 Lewis.
The match marked another highlight in Horihan's career. Not only did the senior outside hitter record the winning point, but she also etched her name in the Bellarmine record book by tying the school record for most assisted blocks in a career. With six in today's match, Horihan raised her career total to 194 to tie Beth Wirtzberger atop the BU all-time list.
Horihan also picked up her 10th double-double of the year with 16 kills and 18 digs. Fellow senior
Allie Muha turned in her 14th double-double performance of the year with 35 assists and 15 digs.
Other top performances for the Knights include nine kills apiece for
Hayden Dailey and
Katie Adams, who hit .300 for the match. Defensively,
Jordyn Kuchenbrod came up with 18 digs to tie Horihan for team-high honors.
Lewis' Alexandra Preuss led all hitters with 18 kills while four different Flyers recorded double digit kills. Lewis put down 69 kills in the match to just 51 for the Knights. The Achilles' heel for Lewis was the service game, where they committed 14 errors to just four for Bellarmine.
The Knights improve to 18-5 on the season, and move to 8-3 in the GLVC, which represents the third-best record in the league. The Flyers retain their top spot in the GLVC East despite falling to 9-1 in the league and 20-2 overall.
Bellarmine now hits the road for its next three games, playing at Missouri S&T, William Jewell and Indianapolis on Oct. 27, 28 and 31.
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