LOUISVILLE, Ky.—The Bellarmine Knights volleyball team struggled at times, but also dominated at times, and in the end came away with a five-set victory over Missouri S&T in a crucial Great Lakes Valley Conference match in Knights Hall on Saturday.
Bellarmine senior
Katie Adams and sophomore
Abbie Oetting came up big for the Knights on both sides of the net as BU extended its win streak to eight matches and improved to 17-8 overall and 8-6 in GLVC play.
Adams tied her career high with 15 kills and added a career-best six assisted blocks. Oetting also turned in a career-high in blocks, recording a solo stop and eight assisted blocks to finish with nine rejections on the day. She also added 13 kills while hitting .500
Bellarmine opened the match with a bang, rolling 25-13 in the first set as they outhit the Miners .400 to .088. Then, in the second frame, the Knights grabbed a four-point cushion at 13-9 only to see Missouri S&T heat up and finish on a 9-3 spurt to win 25-21.
The third frame was nearly an exact reversal of the opening game as the Miners steamrolled the Knights 25-15 and outhit the host team .435 to .027.
Down 2-1 in the match, the Knights summoned a comeback in the fourth set, and squared the match with another 25-13 win by shutting down the S&T attack with seven team blocks. Bellarmine held the Miners to a negative hitting percentage in the fourth while BU swung at a .364 clip.
In the final set, the Knights continued their solid play and built an 8-3 early lead and kept the five-point spread to win at 15-10.
Missouri S&T (14-11, 6-7 GLVC) was paced by Emily Schlader, who tied Adams for match-high honors with 15 kills, while Carlie Combs added 14 for the Miners.
The Knights hit well above .350 in the three sets they won, but posted an attack percent of well below .100 in the sets they lost, but finished a respectable .214 for the match while holding S&T to .143.
Bellarmine probably can attribute the victory to its play on the defennsive end. Bellarmine libero
Jordyn Kuchenbrod came up with nine digs in the fifth set to finish with 31 on the day and help the Knights to a 70-58 dig advantage over the Miners. And, the Knights turned in a season-high 15 blocks while S&T totaled just eight.
Other top performances from the Knights included:
The Knights are on the road for their next two matches, traveling to McKendree on Tuesday night and making the short trip to Southern Indiana on Saturday.
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