JACKSONVILLE, Fla.—On a day that looked as if the odds were stacked against them, the Bellarmine Knights turned in an inspirational performance by knocking off the host North Florida Ospreys in five sets in an Atlantic Sun Conference match at UNF Arena.
 
Bellarmine was playing on short rest, having won a grueling five-setter over Jacksonville in a match that started at 7 p.m. Coming back to today in a 1 p.m. contest, the Knights were forced to play a short-handed due to injuries, and the entire lineup responded with superlative performances turned in by literally every player who stepped on the court for the Knights. 
 
The Ospreys, who also played last night in a four-set win over Eastern Kentucky, were equally impressive on short rest as Bellarmine and UNF battled it out from the opening serve.  After two sets, each team had 48 points with the hosts winning set one 25-23 only to see the Knights square it with their own 25-23 win.
 
The third set was a runaway compared to the opening two games with UNF taking a 25-16 victory, as the Knights were limited to a hitting percentage of just .049.  However, the Knights answered with their own dominating set, squaring the match 2-2 with a 25-18 win fueled by a .441 hitting game.
 
The deciding set opened decidedly in the Ospreys' favor.  After the Knights started with their 14th service error of the match, UNF chalked up three more points in a row out of their offense to take a 4-0 lead and prompt Bellarmine Coach Rick Nold to call a timeout.
 
The stoppage of play was just what Bellarmine needed as the Knights rebounded by reeling off five in row when they came back on the floor.  The Ospreys stemmed the tide as setter Annie Anter dumped one over the Bellarmine front line for a kill and a 5-5 tie. 
 
Bellarmine responded with another run, however, taking a 9-5 lead with a 4-0 spurt.  The Ospreys fought back to trim the deficit to two at 10-8, but an Anna Purichia kill and pair of services aces by Maddie Hagan gave the Knights a decisive 13-8 lead.  From there, the teams traded points with Bellarmine getting kills from MaryAnn O'Toole and Gabby Brissett to close out the match with a 15-10 win in set five.
 
Six different Knights finished with eight or more kills with Purichia, O'Toole and Bailey Venard leading the way with 11 apiece.  Brissett notched 10 kills with Kylie VanHoy and Hagan finishing with nine and eight respectively.
 
The Bellarmine team spread the wealth as evenly on the defensive end with four players reaching double digits in digs.  Mara Perry led the way with 16 with VanHoy adding 15, Anna Lococo chipping in 14 and Macie Garrison contributing 10.  Garrison added 29 assists and VanHoy recorded 20 as both players posted double-doubles.
 
As a team, Bellarmine owned a 61-51 edge in kills as the Knights outhit UNF .249 to .179.  The service game helped the Ospreys make up that difference, recording 12 aces with just two errors while the Knights had a negative ratio with 10 aces but 14 errors.
 
North Florida (11-11, 4-4 ASUN) was paced by Kailey McKnight, who notched a double-double with 15 kills and 14 digs.  She also added a career-high seven service aces.
 
Bellarmine finishes its recent four-match road stretch by winning three of the four and improving to 6-2 in league play, which puts the Knights alone in third place, pending the outcome of EKU's match with Jacksonville.
 
The next two opponents for Bellarmine also hail from the state of Florida, but the Knights will be the host team in those matches.  Florida Gulf Coast University visits on Friday at 6 p.m., and the Stetson Hatters come to Knights Hall at 4 p.m. on Saturday.
 
For more coverage of Bellarmine athletics, follow BUKnights on X (formerly Twitter), Instagram and Facebook.