MOREHEAD, Ky.—The Bellarmine volleyball team kicked off its season by running out to a 25-19 set one victory in its exhibition match at Morehead State today.  Unfortunately for the Knights, the host Eagles came back with three straight wins to claim the match 3-1.  Bellarmine got a bit of consolation by winning the "bonus" fifth set 15-9.
 
Bellarmine Coach Jenni Grzebin said there were positives and negatives in the team's first public appearance of the year.  While play from some of the newest Knights impressed the coach, Grzebin said the service game is a concern as Bellarmine committed 11 service errors while also committing 11 reception errors, essentially losing 22 points on serves alone.
 
The Knights got solid contributions from several first year players, highlighted by a team-high nine kills from Hannah Brown, who also paced BU with a .312 hitting percentage.  Meanwhile, classmate Jayme Scott rang up seven kills to tie sophomores Julia Dailey and Bailey Roszman for second-most on the team.
 
Bellarmine setters Kristen O'Toole and Sam Rickert posted 23 and seven assists respectively, and on the defensive side, four Knights had double-digit digs:  Dailey, 16; Karleigh Wilson, 15; Scott, 12; and O'Toole, 11.  At the net, Izzie Salameh registered a solo block and two block assists.
 
Morehead's Olivia Lohmeier led all hitters with 14 kills and libero Allison Whitten tallied a game-high 18 digs.
 
The Knights will travel to Indianapolis for a series of scrimmages next weekend before opening the regular season on Sept. 6 against the University of Pittsburgh at Johnstown in the Tony Banner Memorial Tournament hosted by Clarion (Pa.) University.
 
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