SPRINGFIELD, Ill.—Bellarmine pulled off two comebacks then breezed to a third set victory as the Knights swept the host Illinois Springfield Prairie Stars in a Great Lakes Valley Conference volleyball match Friday night at the "TRAC."
Bellarmine found itself down 19-15 in the first set, but turned in a late rally to pull out a 25-23 win.
The second game was marred by a delay of more than 30 minutes while officials sorted out a scoring issue that resulted in a point being awarded to Bellarmine due to a lineup error by UIS. The issue was costly for the Prairie Stars, who saw the Knights erase a seven-point deficit and surge ahead in the late stages to claim a 26-24 victory.
The final set was practically all Bellarmine as the Knights built an 11-point cushion and went on to post a 25-17 win.
Bellarmine's
Margaret Horihan led all hitters with 14 kills and got strong support from
Katie Adams, who rang up 11 kills swinging from the right side while hitting .318.
Freshmen middles
Abbie Oetting and
Izzie Salameh also turned in good numbers for the Knights. Oetting hit .389 with eight kills. Salameh, meanwhile, chalked up six kills, two solo blocks and four assisted blocks.
Bellarmine senior setter
Allie Muha recorded another strong night with 40 assists, 13 digs and three kills.
Defensively, five different Knights recorded double digit digs, led by
Jordyn Kuchenbrod with 20. Muha and
Hayden Dailey chipped in 13 each while Horihan and
Karleigh Wilson added 10 apiece.
Illinois Springfield was led by Taylor Bauer with 12 kills and Jailyn Borum with 16 digs.
The Knights improve to 12-2 on the season and see their GLVC record improve to 3-2. The Prairie Stars fall to 8-6, 2-3 GLVC.
Bellarmine returns to action on Saturday at 6 p.m. (ET) when they travel to Lebanon, Illinois to face the Bearcats of McKendree, who lead the GLVC Central Division with a perfect 5-0 league record.
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