CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va.—The Bellarmine Knights split its matches on the opening day of the University of Virginia round-robin event on Friday, falling in straight sets to the host Cavaliers before coming back to sweep the Knights of Fairleigh Dickinson.
MATCH 1: Virginia 3, Bellarmine 0
Bellarmine sandwiched highly competitive sets around a lackluster game two performance as the Knights fell to their ACC opponent 26-24, 25-11, 26-24.
Virginia outhit the Knights .300 to .034 for the match with much of that disparity occurring in the second set when Bellarmine swung at a negative attack percentage. The Cavaliers could be credited for much of the Bellarmine hitting troubles as UVA held a 13-1 advantage in team blocks.
No Bellarmine hitter reached double digits in kills with
Bailey Venard,
Ashley Price and
Jayme Scott tying for team-high honors with seven apiece. Mary Shaffer led the Cavalier attack with 14 kills.
MATCH 2: Bellarmine 3, FDU 0
Bellarmine opened with a resounding set one victory, outhitting Fairleigh Dickinson .364 to .000 to take a 25-10 victory. Sophomore
Bailey Venard was the catalyst for Bellarmine, tying her career-high in kills with nine in the opening set alone.
The Bellarmine Knights then opened up a comfortable 9-2 lead in set two and hung on for a 25-20 win as they again hit over .300 in the set.
The final game was a much more even affair with the FDU Knights holding a slim 15-13 lead until a 7-0 Bellarmine run spurred the BU Knights to a 25-18 third set victory to complete the sweep.
Venard finished the match with a career-high 16 kills while hitting .375, and
Emily Arnold notched a double-double with 29 assists and 11 digs. Bellarmine libero
Anna Lococo was the match digs leader with 14.
Bellarmine posted an overall hitting percentage of .301 while holding FDU to .105. The BU Knights also turned in a good service game, unleashing seven aces while returning all of the FDU serves.
Bellarmine, which improved to 3-7, concludes play in the Virginia tourney tomorrow with an 11:30 a.m. match with Georgetown. The Hoyas lost in five sets to Fairleigh Dickinson to open play today and face Virginia at 7 p.m. on Friday night.
