MOREHEAD, Ky.--The Bellarmine University volleyball team got the 2018-19 year off on the right foot by pulling out a five-set (25-15, 21-25, 25-22, 18-25,15-10) victory over Division I Morehead State on Friday night in Johnson Arena.

The Knights were paced by junior Jacquie Hornung, who led all hitters with 18 kills, while sophomore setter Kristen O'Toole posted solid numbers with 54 assists and 15 digs. Senior libero Jordyn Kuchenbrod also turned in an impressive performance with 34 digs, 13 of which came in the first set.

The match opened with a relatively easy 25-15 win in set one for Bellarmine, but the host Eagles rebounded in the second set to even the score, and the match remained closely contested the rest of the way.

In the deciding fifth set, the Knights clawed their way to an 8-7 advantage at the court change the closed the final 10 points of the match with a 7-3 advantage to earn the victory. Bellarmine recorded a hitting percentage of .400 and were successful on 90 percent of its sideout attempts (10 of 11) in the final set.

The host Eagles outhit Bellarmine .230 to .223 in the match and held a 7-2 advantage in blocks. The Knights countered by outdigging MSU 83-67 and winning the service game. Bellarmine committed just two service errors while chalking up five aces compared to 12 errors and six aces for the Eagles.

Bellarmine saw three players reach double digit kills with freshman Bailey Roszman adding 14 and sophomore Izzie Salameh totaling 11 to join Hornung in double figures. Morehead's Karlee Reynolds had 11 kills and was the lone Eagle with more than nine.

Tonight's exhibition was Bellarmine's last public competition until the Knights open the regular season on Friday, August 24 in the Ashland Invitational against Malone University.