LOUISVILLE, Ky.—If volleyball were a race to 24 points, the Bellarmine Knights could have had a long night in their Great Lakes Valley Conference home opener tonight in Knights Hall.
 
The visiting Quincy Hawks were first to 24 in each of the first two sets, but the Knights fought off a total of three Quincy set points, winning 29-27 and 26-24 to build a 2-0 lead in the match.
 
Bellarmine competed the sweep with a 25-22 set three win as Jacquie Hornung provided a spark with seven kills in the frame. The Hawks didn't go down easily, however.  Facing a 24-19 deficit, Quincy reeled off three straight points before Hornung recorded the final kill of the night on a soft touch over the Hawks' block.
 
Bellarmine freshman Abbie Stefanon led all hitters tonight with a career-high 11 kills, and classmate Julia Dailey made her collegiate debut with a solid six-kill, 14-dig performance.  Hornung finished the night with eight kills as did senior right side Katie Adams.
 
Quincy had a balanced attack led by Sarah Brown's seven kills with four different Hawks registering six kills.
 
The Knights got a double-double from setter Kristin O'Toole, who came up with 14 digs to go along with 33 assists. Defensively, Jordyn Kuchenbrod paced Bellarmine with 17 digs while Izzie Salameh contributed five assisted blocks.
 
Bellarmine improves to 8-6 (2-4 GLVC), and Quincy suffers its eighth straight defeat to fall to 5-8 (0-5 GLVC).
 
The Knights are back in action tomorrow at 3 p.m. hosting the Truman State Bulldogs, who swept Southern Indiana tonight.
 
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