LOUISVILLE, Ky. – The Bellarmine University volleyball team is set to play one final tune-up match before entering conference play as the Knights travel to Indianapolis, IN for evening showdown with Butler University on Friday, September 20.
Friday's match is scheduled for a 7 p.m. ET first serve at Hinkle Fieldhouse and will be broadcast live on the Butler athletics You-Tube channel.
Last weekend, Bellarmine tallied its second win of the season after a clean sweep of Murray State on Friday morning. The Knights followed the win with a hard-fought match against Chattanooga but fell 3-1 before taking a heartbreaking 3-2 loss in the weekend finale to SIUE. Bellarmine is off to a 2-7 start to the season.
Despite just one win over the weekend, the Knights still had something to celebrate as junior
Kylie Van Hoy was named ASUN Setter of the Week and freshman
Payton Parsons was named ASUN Freshman of the Week. The honors are the first for Bellarmine this season and the first of both Van Hoy and Parsons' careers. Van Hoy turned in 35+ assists in each match, recording two double-doubles while also nearly accomplishing a triple-double. Against SIUE, Van Hoy dished out a career-high 47 assists, adding a career-high tying 17 digs, seven kills, one block and one ace. Parsons tallied double-digit digs in all three matches on the weekend, setting a new career-high in each match, highlighted by a whopping 30 digs against SIUE.
Sophomores
Natalie Bland and
Maddie Hagan also turned in noteworthy play last weekend. Bland set a new career-high when she tallied 28 kills against SIUE, good enough to tie the sixth best mark in program history. Hagan was solid all weekend for the Knights, recording double-digit kills in all three matches. Against Murray State, Hagan tallied 14 kills with an insane .737 hitting percentage, good for the fifth best mark in program history. Hagan managed to top the performance against SIUE when she set a new career-high with 18 kills while also recording five blocks.
About the Bulldogs
Butler is also off to a 2-7 start to the season entering the final weekend of non-conference action. The Bulldogs will host Ball State Thursday, September 19 before Bellarmine makes the trip to Indianapolis. Butler will then close out the weekend with a match against Wright State on Saturday, September 21. Last weekend, the Bulldogs participated in the Grand Canyon University Classic and went 0-3. Heading into the GCU Classic, Butler had won back-to-back matches over Indiana State, topping the Sycamores 3-0 and 3-1. The Bulldogs are led by senior Abby Maesch and sophomore Elise Ward. Maesch owns the top spot with 116 kills on the season, adding 50 digs and 14 blocks while Ward ranks second with 96 kills, adding 74 digs, 11 blocks and nine aces. Against Grand Canyon, Ward tallied 24 kills and 20 digs, becoming the first Bulldog to do in a match since 2021. As a team, Butler has totaled 86 blocks, second most in the Big East and 33
rd in the nation. Bellarmine and Butler will face off for just the second time when they meet on the court on Friday. The lone other match between the Knights and Bulldogs came on January 31, 2021 in Knights Hall and resulted in a 3-2 Butler victory.
For more coverage of Bellarmine athletics, follow BUKnights on X, Instagram and Facebook.
