RICHMOND, Ky.— The Bellarmine volleyball team saw its 2021 season come to an end with a four-set loss to host Eastern Kentucky today in ASUN Conference action in McBrayer Arena.
 
The Colonels (10-20, 7-9 ASUN) flipped the script from their first meeting with the Knights by dropping the first set then taking the final three for the 3-1 victory. When the teams met on Oct. 16, Bellarmine lost the opener before coming back to take the match 3-1.
 
Today's contest opened with a back-and-forth set that saw the Knights jump out to an early advantage only to see the Colonels battle back to surge ahead 15-11.  Fortunately for Bellarmine, the Knights were hot team coming down the stretch, wining the final three points to take a 25-22 victory.
 
Set number two saw the teams trade the first 12 points, but EKU took control from there, opening up a 20-9 lead and holding on for a 25-16 win.
 
In the third frame, a Bellarmine comeback came up just short. The Colonels led most of the way until the Knights rallied to knot the score at 23 apiece. EKU kept inching ahead to give themselves set points and eventually pulled out a 27-25 win.
 
The fourth set played out in similar fashion to the third in that EKU drew out to a lead, only to see a Bellarmine 3-0 run tie it late in the game (22-22). As was the case in the thirst set, the Colonels never let the Knights pull ahead, and they closed out the game and the match with a 25-23 win.
 
The match produced some outstanding stat lines for players on both teams. EKU's Sarah Mitchell boasted perhaps the most impressive. She led the Colonels in both kills and digs with 24 and 15 respectively while hitting a robust .392. Molly Michalak was only other Colonel to record double digit kills, racking up 16 on the day.
 
For Bellarmine, Jayme Scott and Emily Arnold both notched double-doubles with Scott tallying 17 kills and 15 digs and Arnold recording 19 assists and 13 digs. It was Scott's 12th double-double of the year, accomplishing that feat in 28 matches.
 
Also with outstanding performances for the Knights were Julia Dailey, who chalked up a season-high 12 kills while swinging at a .391 clip and Seville Gates, who was active on both sides of the net with 11 kills, a solo block and two assisted blocks. Chrysanthi Stamatiou, meanwhile, made her presence felt all over the court with nine kills, 12 digs, two assisted blocks and two service aces.
 
Bellarmine libero Anna Lococo also had a noteworthy performance with a match-high 22 digs—her fourth straight match of averaging five or more digs per set.

The Knights finish the 2021 season with a 6-22 record, including a 2-14 mark in ASUN competition.
 
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