LOUISVILLE, Ky. – The University of Bellarmine volleyball team notched its first win of the season in its home debut, splitting a double-header on the opening day of the Bellarmine Classic.
 
In the first home match of the season, Bellarmine flipped the script from its opening weekend, controlling the pace and running its offense with ease. In the opening set, the Knights offense was nearly unstoppable, hitting a red-hot .438. Sophomore Natalie Bland led the way for Bellarmine racking up a game-high 17 kills, adding six digs and an assist. Junior Kylie Van Hoy helped pace the Knights offense with 37 assists, contributing nine digs, seven kills and a block while grad student Mara Perry turned in a team-high 11 digs with four assists and two aces.
 
With the win, Bellarmine improve to 1-3 on the season while the loss moves UAB to 1-2 on the year.
 
Match 1 vs. UAB
Set 1
The Knights jumped out in front out of the gate, taking a 2-0 lead thanks to back-to-back kills from Foote and Maddie Hagan. Bellarmine continued to hold its lead at 8-6 before UAB turned up the pressure with a 4-0 run to take an 11-9 lead. BU followed with a 5-2 run to win the race to 15 and take a 15-14 lead into the media timeout. Out of the break, neither team could find an edge as the score stayed tight. The Knights used a late 3-0 run to propel themselves to a 21-17 lead before closing out the first set with another 3-0 run, taking a 25-19 victory.
 
Set 2
In opposite fashion of the first set, UAB jumped out to the early lead, going up 3-1 to start the second stanza. The Knights didn't stay down long however, turning a 3-0 run to take an 8-7 lead before ripping off five straight points to jump ahead 13-8. The Blazers followed with a rally of their own, going on a 9-2 to retake the lead at 17-15. Following a timeout, the re-energized Knights turned the tide, going on a 5-2 run to jump back in front 20-18. UAB followed suit with a timeout of its own, ripping off three straight points out of the break to go up one at 21-20. Bellarmine answered with two straight points before taking the final three points, highlighted by a Mara Perry ace for the final point to take the second set 25-22.
 
Set 3
Set three started in back-and-forth fashion as both teams tried to find its footing after the intermission. After a 4-4 tie, the Blazers rattled off four straight points to go up 8-4. Bellarmine rallied, getting back within two, down 9-7, but UAB went back on the attack, stringing together another 4-0 run to extend its lead to 13-7, forcing the Knights to call their first timeout. The Blazers continued to pile on the points, putting up two more 3-0 runs, bookending Bellarmine's second timeout, as they opened the game up with a 21-11 lead. Bellarmine tried to get new life with a lineup but was unable to rally as UAB went on to claim the third set 25-14 and stay alive in the match.
 
Set 4
Game four was all Bellarmine to start as the Knights scored the first five points of the stanza before turning in a 4-0 run to jump out to a 9-1 lead. UAB battled its way back into the fold, using a 3-0 and 4-0 run to cut the deficit to four, still down 14-10 as Bellarmine called a timeout. The Blazers came out of the break still on the attack, taking the first three points to get within one, down 14-13. The Knights answered, stacking points together to rebuild their lead back to 19-15 as UAB called its second time out of the frame. BU continued to push the pace, running the score up to 21-16 before the Blazers worked their back into the match with a 6-2 run to get back within one as Bellarmine held on to its lead at 24-23. The Knights finally closed the match out, scoring the next point thanks to a well-placed attack by Foote to secure the set 25-23 and their first win of the season.
 
In their second match of the day, errors spelled the end for the Knights. With 38 errors between the service line (16) and the attack (22), Bellarmine was in for a battle. The Knights played well though, forcing long rallies and high scores in all four sets. Bland once again led the Bellarmine offense, turning in another 16 kills with eight digs, two aces and an assist. Van Hoy tallied 31 assists in the match, adding seven digs, six kills and an ace while Perry led the way again with 11 digs, contributing seven assists. A bright spot among the service woes was freshman Payton Parsons who racked up five aces in the match, adding nine digs and an assist.
 
With the loss, Bellarmine drops to 1-4 on the season. The win bumped IU Indy back to an even .500 and sit at 3-3 on the year.
 
Match 2 vs. IU Indy
Set 1
Despite losing the first two points, Bellarmine stayed focused and used a 4-0 and 3-0 run to surge ahead to a 7-4 lead. The Knights continued to control the narrative early, turning in a 5-2 run to extend the lead to six, up 12-6, and force IU Indy to call its first timeout. The timeout proved fruitful as the Jaguars took the first two points out of the break, then followed with a 4-0 run shortly after to get back within two as the Knights took their first timeout of the match, still up 15-13. IU Indy stayed on the attack through the Bellarmine break, scoring six of seven points following the timeout as the Jaguars took a 19-16 lead and forced the Knights to call its second timeout of the set. BU locked back in, scoring three straight points to even the score at 19-19 but IU Indy was unfazed, going on to win the first set 25-22 and take a 1-0 lead.
 
Set 2
What started as a back-and-forth battle soon turned back in favor of IU Indy as the Jaguars kept their momentum, jumping out to a 9-6 lead. Bellarmine then went on the attack and evened the score at 10-10. From there, neither team could gain an edge until the media timeout changed the pace in Bellarmine's favor as the Knights went on a 4-0 run to take an 18-14 lead and force the Jaguars to use their first timeout. Bellarmine continued to pressure, scoring four of six points out of the break, extending its lead to 22-16 as IU Indy called its second and final timeout of the set. Out of the break it was all Knights as they took three of the last five points to secure the second set with a 25-18 victory.
 
Set 3
In set three, the Knights used the momentum for their second set win to their advantage, surging ahead 6-2 early. The Jaguars settled in quickly after and scratched their way back into the set, tying the game 13-13 before taking a 15-13 lead thanks to a 5-0 run leading into the media timeout. IU Indy scored again right out of the break to go up three at 16-15 as Bellarmine used its first timeout. The call paid of initially as the Knights scored three of the first four points to get back within one, still down 17-16, but IU Indy followed with a 3-1 run of its own to go back ahead three at 20-17 and force the Knights to use their final timeout of the stanza. BU took the first two points out of the break, but the Jaguars wouldn't be denied as they rattled off five straight points to take the set 25-19.
 
Set 4
The fourth set was must win for the Knight in order to keep their chances of a match win alive. After the first few points went back-and-forth, Bellarmine started to take control as the Knights went ahead 9-5. Just as they had done all night, the Jaguars worked their way right back into the fold, using a 4-0 run to jump in front 11-10 before another two points put them ahead 13-11 and forced Bellarmine to use its first timeout. Despite losing the first point out of the break, the Knights came out in a fervor, scoring six straight points to retake the lead, 17-14. BU continued to hold a lead late into the stanza, up 21-19, but a 3-0 run from the Jaguars tied things up at 21-21. From there, it was an all-out battle to the end as neither team was able to find an edge. Ultimately, IU Indy found just enough space to score back-to-back points, taking the set 26-24 and the match 3-1.
 
Up next, the Knights will cap off the Bellarmine Classic with a final match on Saturday, September 7 against Cincinnati at 2:30 p.m. ET in Knights Hall.
 
For more coverage of Bellarmine athletics, follow @BUKnights on X, Instagram and Facebook.