LOUISVILLE, Ky.—The Bellarmine University volleyball team captured two dramatic victories on Saturday to finish the Bellarmine Kickoff Classic a perfect 4-0. The Knights started their with day a five-set win over tournament runner-up Davenport and closed the tournament with a straight-sets triumph over California (Pennsylvania).
In the opener, Bellarmine got a huge performance from tournament most valuable player
Bailey Roszman. The Louisville freshman cranked out 28 kills—the sixth most in school history—while hitting at a .344 clip.
However, Roszman was far from the only star for the Knights against Davenport. Setter
Kristen O'Toole dished out a career-high 63 assists and added 11 digs, which tied her career high while giving her a third double-double on the year.
Defensively, Jordan Kuchenbrod turned in another sterling performance, coming up with 42 digs, just one short of her career high.
Other standout performances turned in by the Knights included:
Jacquie Hornung's 14 kills and 10 digs,
Abbie Oetting's 15 kills and .282 hitting percentage, and freshman
Abbie Stefanon's first 10-kill effort as a collegian.
The match was tight throughout with Davenport jumping out to a 1-0 lead with a 25-22 first set victory. Bellarmine squared the match with a 25-18 win in the second set, but it was a late comeback in the third set that turned the tide of the match in BU's favor. Facing a 24-23 deficit, the Knights staved off a set point then scored two in a row for a 26-24 win to give them the upper hand.
Davenport refused to crumble, however, and came back to force a fifth set with a 25-22 win in the fourth.
Bellarmine couldn't have asked for a much better start in the "race to 15" in the fifth set. The Knights scored the first four points, and the Panthers could get no closer than 6-4 as Bellarmine closed out the match with a 15-11 win.
In the tournament's final match, Bellarmine defeated California 25-22, 25-12, 26-24, but the sweep didn't come easily. In fact, the Knights needed a late-set comeback in the opener. Trailing 21-18, Bellarmine unleashed a 6-0 run to earn a set point at 24-21 before trading points to close the set with a 25-22 win.
Set two was blowout victory for the Knights, and it appeared Bellarmine was on its way to an easy win after building a 17-13 cushion in set three. The Vulcans, however, rose the challenge with a 5-0 run to claim an 18-17 edge. The teams then swapped three-point runs before California inched ahead 23-21. However, two Hornung kills and a service ace by Oetting gave the Knights a match point at 24-23. Although Bellarmine was whistled for a ball handling error on the next point, the Knights closed the match on a Vulcan service error and Hornung's 14th kill.
Oetting paced the Bellarmine offense against the Vulcans, recording 16 kills and hitting .483. Defensively, Kuchenbrod got off to a scorching start, tallying 18 digs in the first set and finishing with 27. Oetting and Kuchenbrod joined Roszman on the eight-member all-tournament team.
Bellarmine improves to 6-2 on the season and now moves into the Great Lakes Valley Conference portion of its schedule. With the exception of the Midwest Regional Crossover Tournament on Oct. 12 and 13, the rest of Bellarmine's matches come against GLVC opponents.
The Knights will start its conference slate on the road next week, squaring off against the University of Missouri-St. Louis on Friday and Maryville on Saturday.
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