FLORENCE, Al. – Bellarmine volleyball concluded its longest ASUN road stretch of the season on Sunday afternoon at North Alabama, falling 3-1 at CB&S Bank Arena at Flowers Arena.

The Knights (10-12, 4-6) fell in close first set, 25-20, before completing a late rally to win the second 25-21 and even the match 1-1. Out of the intermission, North Alabama (12-11, 6-4) was determined to win, taking the third set 25-11 and the fourth 25-17 for a 3-1 victory.

Bellarmine once again had a pair of Knights register double-digit kills in juniors Natalie Bland and Erika Smith. Bland earned top billing with 11 kills on the day, adding nine digs, an assist and an ace.
Smith tallied 10 kills in addition to two blocks and two digs. Sophomore Payton Parsons racked up a match-high 19 digs in the match with four assists. Senior Kylie Van Hoy dished out 27 assists while tallying nine digs, seven kills and a block. Fellow senior Tessa Nauert was second on the team with 11 digs and led BU with three aces.

Despite the loss, Bellarmine topped North Alabama in kills, 41-39, and digs, 60-58. The Lions registered three more aces than the Knights (8-5) and won the battle at the net with 7.0 blocks to Bellarmine's 2.0.

Errors spelled the difference for Bellarmine. The Knights committed 57 total errors in the match with a whopping 33 coming on the attack. BU also committed 11 service errors and eight reception errors.

The Knights are still in the Atlantic Sun Tournament hunt with three weeks of conference play remaining.

Up next, Bellarmine will return home for a Halloween match up with Austin Peay before hosting Lipscomb on November 1 at Knights Hall.

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