LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Bellarmine volleyball is back at home this weekend, hosting West Georgia and Queens on Friday, October 10 and Saturday, October 11 in Knights Hall for the third week of Atlantic Sun Conference play.

Both matches of the weekend will be broadcast live on ESPN+. On Friday against UWG, the Knights will honor those who have or are battling breast cancer with a Breast Cancer Awareness Night.

Bellarmine will kick the weekend off on Friday, October 10 at 6 pm E.T. against West Georgia before hosting Queens on Saturday, October 11 at 4 pm E.T.

Last weekend, the Knights made their first ASUN road trip of the year, traveling to Tennessee to take on Lipscomb and Austin Peay. After falling to the preseason league favorite Bisons on Friday night, Bellarmine notched its first conference win of the year with a 3-2 victory over the Governors on Saturday night.
In the win, multiple Knights turned in season or career best performances. Redshirt freshman Mya White led the team with 18 kills in the match, setting a new career high, while hitting .311 with 17 digs, her second highest total of the year. Junior Erika Smith was also productive offensively, turning in a career-high tying 15 eliminations while hitting .353%. Senior Kylie Van Hoy dished a season-high tying 46 assists in the affair in addition to 11 digs as she produced her team-best fifth double-double of the year. Sophomore Payton Parsons provided 24 digs on the defensive side, her second highest total of the year. Redshirt freshman Sarah Turner tallied a career best five kills on nine swings for a .556 hitting percentage. Freshman Lillie Meinhart rounded out the effort with a career-high four blocks. As a team, Bellarmine produced season-highs in total attacks (179), digs (78) and block assists (18).

Overall, junior Natalie Bland leads the Knights offense with 199 kills this season and ranks fourth in the ASUN in total kills and kills per set (3.26) and sixth in points per set (3.65). She is also second on the team with 127 digs on the year and has turned in the second most double doubles with four. Van Hoy has racked up 486 assists on the year and ranks third in the ASUN in both total assists and assists per set (8.53). Parsons has nearly equaled her digs production from a year ago, turning in 240 so far this season, good for fifth most in the conference and fifth most digs per set (3.93) in the league. Smith has registered a team-best 52 blocks in 2025, already topping her output from a season ago of 51, putting her at 7^th in the ASUN.

About the Wolves

• West Georgia is 2-15 to start the season and are winless in Atlantic Sun play, starting the conference slate 0-4. Last weekend, the Wolves took a pair of 3-0 losses at FGCU and Stetson. This season, UWG was picked to finish last in the Preseason Coaches' Poll after a 10^th place finish in its first year in the league in 2024.
• Freshman Valiree Schmus leads the Wolves' offense with 148 kills on the year. Behind her, redshirt sophomore Grace-Blythe Cornett is second on the team with 120 kills and turned in a career-high tying 15 kills in the last match at Stetson. Freshman Addy Franz paces the offense with 360 assists on the year, eighth most in the ASUN. Defensively, freshman Olivia Kremer ranks 10^th in the ASUN and leads the team with 190 digs. Schmus follows with 148 digs to ranks second on the team while Franz rounds out the freshman trio with 125 digs. Senior Sanai Young has recorded 48.0 blocks on the season, ninth most in the ASUN. Sophomore Alex Strating is second on the team with 43.0 blocks this season.
• Bellarmine and West Georgia have met four times previously with three coming in the Knights' Division II era. BU holds a perfect 4-0 record against the Wolves and won the first meeting as Division I foes last season when the two met on October 18 in Carrollton, GA (3-1). Prior to that meeting Bellarmine won twice at home (9/18/17, 3-0; 9/10/16, 3-1) and once at a neutral site (9/3/11, 3-1).

About the Royals

• Queens is off to an 11-6 start to the 2025 season and is 2-2 in ASUN conference play. The Royals sit in a five-way tie for fourth in the Atlantic Sun through two weeks of conference action after being tabbed to finish 11^th in the league's Preseason Coaches' Poll. Last weekend, Queens split its first trip to Florida, defeating Stetson via a 3-2 reverse sweep before falling to FGCU 3-1. The Royals other conference win came over North Florida (3-1).
• On offense, Queens features a balanced attack with three players registering over 140 kills. Junior Callie DeSchryver leads the Royals with 180 kills with redshirt sophomore Emma Norris notching 155 and freshman Elizabeth Layson recording 145. Queens runs a 6-2 offense through setters freshman Tyler Peluso and sophomore Megan Kelly. Peluso leads the duo with 373 assists with Kelly adding 288. Defensively, junior Tilley Collins and grad student Mia McMillen lead in the digs category with 200+ digs each. Collins is the top dog with an ASUN leading 274 total digs, ranking second in the conference with her 4.15 digs per set. McMillen has tallied 202 digs, good for 3.54 per set; both stats rank ninth in the ASUN. At the net, Norris leads the ASUN with 72 total blocks and 1.14 blocks per set. Behind her, senior Ellis Sargent (45.0), sophomore Camryn Teasley (41.0) and DeSchryver (40.0) have all recorded 40+ blocks on the season as the Royals lead the ASUN with 2.36 blocks per set.
• Bellarmine and Queens have met four times since the Knights' ascension to Division I. The two teams are even in the all-time series with two wins each. Last year, Queens came away with a 3-0 home win while the Knights prevailed 3-2 in 2023 in Knights Hall. Bellarmine has won both matchups with Queens at home.

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