LOUISVILLE, KY.—A match that opened with much promise ended in disappointment for the Bellarmine volleyball team as the Knights dropped a five-setter against highly-regarded Illinois Springfield on Saturday afternoon in Knights Hall.
 
The loss snapped Bellarmine's school-record 11-match win streak and put a damper on senior day as the Knights played for the last time in Knights Hall this season.
 
After Bellarmine honored its four seniors—Katie Adams, Toni DalleCarbonare, Jordyn Kuchenbrod and Abby Schlaug—in a pregame ceremony, the Knights promptly jumped out to a two sets to none lead against the Prairie Stars, who are receiving votes in the AVCA Top 25 poll.  However, Illinois Springfield responded with a convincing 25-16 win in the third set to extend the match.
 
The Knights put themselves in good shape to win the match in set four, but saw a 17-12 advantage melt away as UIS came back to win 25-23.
 
Despite the disappointing loss in the fourth, Bellarmine rebounded in the fifth set with an early 4-0 lead and extended the margin to seven at 11-4.  Again the Prairie Stars fought back and pulled even with the Knights at 13-13.  Bellarmine went on to have two match points at 14-13 and 15-14, but couldn't put the Prairie Stars away.
 
The Knights then thwarted three UIS match points, but the Prairie Stars finally completed the comeback on their fourth match point to win the fifth set 20-18.
 
Although it was a disappointing result for the Knights, a number of players turned it outstanding performances.  Playing for the final time in Knights Hall, Adams delivered a career-high 20 kills while Kuchenbrod registered 35 digs to see her career total eclipse the 2,900 mark at 2,904.
 
Meanwhile junior Jacquie Hornung (17 kills, 16 digs) and freshman Sam Rickert (28 assists, 10 digs) posted double-doubles for Bellarmine.  Freshman Bailey Roszman rang up 16 kills for the Knights with Julia Dailey adding 12 and Abbie Oetting chipping in 10.
 
Bellarmine finished with 27 more kills than UIS (80-53), but the Prairie Stars made just 14 attack errors compared to 42 for the Knights.  On the defensive end, the Knights outdug the visitors 92-67, but UIS had a big day at the net with 16 team blocks while Bellarmine managed just five.
 
The victory gave Illinois Springfield (24-6) a share of the GLVC regular season title with a 15-3 league mark, a record shared by Drury and Lewis. 
 
The Knights finish the regular season 20-9 with an 11-7 record in the GLVC, which leaves them in No. 6 spot in the league standings. 
 
Although the conference has not yet released the official seedings, it appears UIS will lose tiebreakers with both Drury and Lewis making them the No. 3 seed in the upcoming GLVC tournament, which would set up a rematch between Bellarmine and UIS in the opening round on Thursday. The GLVC tournament will be held in East Peoria, Illinois at the EastSide Centre Nov. 8-10.
 
For more coverage of Bellarmine athletics, follow us on Twitter (@BUKnights), Instagram (BUKnights), Facebook (BUKnights) and the BUKnights mobile app available for iPhone and Android.
 
BOX SCORE (HTM)