LIBERTY, Mo.—After breezing to an 11-point victory in the opening set, the Bellarmine Knights had to fight off a furious comeback attempt from the host William Jewell Cardinals to win the Friday night Great Lakes Valley Conference match in five sets at the Mabee Center.
 
The 25-14 first set win by Bellarmine could have been an eye-opener for Cardinals, who responded by running out to a 17-14 lead in the second game. The Knights were able to turn the tables on William Jewell with a 3-0 run to knot the score at 17. The hosts answered with two straight points, but Bellarmine took the lead for good with a 4-0 run and hung on for a 25-23 win.
 
The Cardinals kept their upset hopes alive and avoided the sweep by building a 17-10 lead in the third set before posting a 25-19 win.
 
The third set win gave William Jewell the momentum, and the Cardinals built on that positive energy.  They never trailed in the fourth set, and although a late Bellarmine surge drew the Knights even with WJC at 24 apiece, the Cardinals sent the game to a fifth set by scoring two straight points for the 26-24 win. 
 
In the deciding set, the Knights took the court with a sense of determination and jumped out to quick 2-0 and 4-1 leads.   After William Jewell closed to within two at 5-3, Bellarmine blew the game open with a 5-0 run behind a strong service rotation by freshman Sam Rickert. From there, the Knights cruised to a 15-7 fifth set victory.
 
Four Knights totaled 10 or more kills in the match with senior Katie Adams leading the way with 14 while hitting .321. Freshman Bailey Roszman contributed 13 kills to the Bellarmine attack with Jaquie Hornung and Abbie Oetting adding 12 and 10 respectively. 
 
Defensively, the Knights were outblocked 11-4, but Bellarmine owned an 81-71 advantage in digs with senior libero Jordyn Kuchenbrod chalking up 32 on the night. Hornung posted a double-double by adding 14 digs to her 12 kills, and Karleigh Wilson contributed 13 digs for the Knights.
 
Bellarmine improves to 9-7 on the season and ups its GLVC mark to 3-5.  William Jewell falls to 3-14, 0-7 GLVC.
 
The Knights return to action on Saturday afternoon against the No. 14 Rockhurst Hawks, who knocked off Southern Indiana 3-1 on Friday night.
 
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