LOUISVILLE, Ky.—The Bellarmine volleyball team will be seeing purple this weekend when the Knights travel for their first conference road matches of the season against the purple-clad North Alabama Lions and the purple-clad Central Arkansas Sugar Bears.   
 
The Knights—along with UNA and UCA—enter the weekend still looking for their first ASUN victories.   Bellarmine dropped home contests to Austin Peay and Lipscomb in its first ASUN matches last week while UNA and UCA both lost to Kennesaw State and Jacksonville State.
 
Despite the lack of success in conference, all three squads are .500 or above outside the league.  North Alabama is 10-2 in nonconference matches, while Central Arkansas is 8-5 and Bellarmine is 6-6.
 
On Friday at 7 p.m. (6 p.m. CT), the Knights will square off against North Alabama, who is being led by Louisville native and Belmont transfer Taylor Floyd.  The 6-1 outside hitter out of Ballard High School is averaging 3.3 kills per set to pace the UNA offense and is second on the team in digs at 3.24 per set.  Elif Ozsoy has been the primary setter for the Lions in the last several outings, and she is averaging 8.25 assists per set.  Defensively, UNA is led by Mattrice Harris (1.02 blocks/set) and Ella Ratzloff (4.37 digs/set).
 
Bellarmine will be in Conway, Arkansas on Sunday to take on the Sugar Bears in a 1 p.m. (Noon CT) match.  Freshman Laci Bohannon got her career off to a great start at UCA, garnering ASUN Freshman of the Week honors before the calendar hit September.  The Benton, Arkansas native helped UCA get off to a 3-0 start by tallying 62 kills, 24 digs, five blocks and six aces in the Sugar Bears' season-opening tournament in Springfield, Missouri. 
 
Bohannon has kept up her strong play and is the leading UCA hitter on the season, averaging 3.08 kills per set. Another freshman is the primary setter for the Sugar Bears with Caylan Koons dishing out 8.4 assists per set.  Graduate student Leigh Maher is the UCA leader in digs with an average of 3.88 per set.
 
The Knights are being led by senior Jayme Scott, who starts the week just two kills shy of becoming the 11th player in program history to reach 1,000 kills in a career. Scott also enters the week sitting atop the ASUN statistical standings in total kills (232) and kills per set (4.22). On the other side of the net, Bellarmine's Anna Lococo comes into the week ranked second in the ASUN in both digs (232) and digs per set (4.42).  Senior Emily Arnold is the Knights' top setter with an average of 9.09 assists per set while sophomore Jayda Harris leads in blocks with 37 on the season.
 
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