ROLLA, Mo.—On paper it may look like a routine sweep for the Bellarmine volleyball team, but the Knights' 25-23, 30-28, 25-13 victory over Missouri S&T was far from ordinary.
 
The Knights had to dig deep to pull out a set one victory, then nearly gave away the second game before settling in for a dominant third set victory for a sweep of the Miners in a Great Lakes Valley Conference match at Bullman Multipurpose Building on S&T's campus.
 
Bellarmine got another big night from Margaret Horihan, the reigning GLVC Offensive Player of the Week.  The Rockford, Illinois senior posted her 11th double-double of the season with 17 kills and 14 digs while hitting at a .350 clip.  She also recorded five block assists to take over solo first on Bellarmine's all-time list with 199.
 
The upset-minded Miners went toe-to-toe with the Knights in the opening set and opened up what appeared to be a safe 21-15 lead, but Bellarmine stormed back with a 6-0 run to tie the game at 21 apiece. The Knights then got a pair of kills from Horihan and S&T committed an attack error to get to set point, where Horihan and Izzie Salameh combined for a block to secure the 25-23 win.
 
In the second set, it was Bellarmine that looked poised for a win at with a 24-22 advantage. However, the Miners staved off two set points then turned the tables on the Knights with four straight set points (25-24, 26-25, 27-26 and 28-27). Each time Bellarmine withstood the challenge and won the final three points to take a 2-0 lead in the match.
 
After the 10-minute intermission, the Knights came back focused and ran out to relatively stress-free 25-13 win.
 
Bellarmine setter Allie Muha continued to close in on 4,000 career assists with a match-high 34 tonight.  The Cincinnati senior is now just 51 shy of the milestone.
 
Another Knight nearing a milestone is junior libero Jordyn Kuchenbrod, who tallied a match-high 21 digs to bring her career total to 1,990. 
 
The Miners were paced by Carlie Combs, who led her team in both kills and digs with 15 and 13 respectively.
 
Bellarmine improves to 19-5 (9-3 GLVC) while Missouri S&T falls to 8-17, 1-11 GLVC.
 
The Knights continue their Missouri road trip with a visit to Liberty to take on the William Jewell Cardinals at 4 p.m. (3 pm. CDT).
 
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