HARRISONBURG, Va. – Bellarmine volleyball dropped a pair of tightly contested contests on Saturday, succumbing to Princeton 3-2 (25-22, 25-25, 15-25, 18-25, 23-25) and Lehigh 3-0 (20-25, 23-25, 23-25) on the final day of the LD&B Insurance Invitational at JMU Convocation Center.

With the losses, the Knights move to 2-4 on the year.

Bellarmine began the day with a contest against the Ivy League's Princeton, marking the first ever meeting between the two programs. The Knights came out on top early in the first set and held on to that lead until late in the stanza, up 19-15. Princeton used a 3-0 run to get back within one, down 19-18 but BU comes out of the break to score and remain in control. A late challenge by the Knights reversed a point for Princeton, giving them a 24-22 lead with the final point to follow right after for a 25-22 win. The second set was all Bellarmine. BU used four runs to push the pace and take a 22-12 lead. The Tigers scrambled together a late three-point run of their own, but it was too late as Bellarmine went on to secure the second set 25-15. After the intermission, Princeton came out ready to play and blitzed the Knights for a bounce-back 25-15 set three win. In the fourth, neither team was able to gain much control for a while with the score still even at 8-8. Eventually the Tigers found a seam and used a 5-1 run to go up 13-9. Bellarmine wasn't out yet however as the Knights rallied for a 5-0 run to get back within one, down 17-16. Princeton answered though, going up 20-17 before finishing the set off 25-18. In the decisive fifth set, the two teams battled or position once again. Bellarmine took an 8-6 lead to force Princeton to call a timeout. The Tigers came out of the break hot, using a 3-1 run to even the score at 9-9 as Bellarmine used a timeout. Princeton continued the run out of the break with two more points, going up 11-9 forcing the Knights to call their final timeout. Bellarmine answered immediately with a 4-1 run to retake the lead at 13-12, causing Princeton to call their final timeout. With the match coming down to the wire and both teams out of timeouts, Bellarmine and Princeton traded points back-and-forth until well beyond the normal 15-point mark. At 23-23, the Tigers found the edge they needed and scored back-to-back points to take the final set 25-23 and win the match 3-2.

Four Knights finished with double-digit kills in the match, led by junior Natalie Bland and redshirt freshman Mya White with 15 each. Both Bland and White contributed double-digit digs to notch a double double each as White led the team with 18 and Bland contributing 14. They each added three aces and three assists to their lines with White tallying a block. Senior Kylie Van Hoy also turned in a double-double in the match, racking up a season-high 46 assists and 12 kills while hitting .423. Van Hoy nearly had a triple-double as she also contributed eight digs and a career-high tying five blocks. Junior Erika Smith rounded out the top performers with 11 kills in addition to three blocks.

The second match of the day also featured a matchup between first time foes, featuring the Knights and Lehigh University. The first set started in runs with Lehigh going up first with Bellarmine answering to even the score 6-6. It remained balanced for a few points before the Mountain Hawks burst the game open with an 18-12 lead. BU turned in a late 4-0 run to make things interesting at 24-20 before Lehigh finished the set off 25-20. Lehigh started the second stanza just as hot as they ended the first, jumping ahead 14-9. The Knights rallied to tie the score then take the lead at 16-15. From there both teams battled for position until the Mountain Hawks surged ahead 24-20. The Knights once again mustered a late rally to get within one, down 24-23 before Lehigh claimed the set 25-23. The third set was much more tightly contested to start with the score deadlocked at 11-11. Again, the teams wrestled for an edge, trading points back and forth. Lehigh once again came out on top however, taking the set 25-23 and the match 3-0.

Freshman Abby Julius led the Knights in offense, registering 12 kills, adding two assists, an ace and a block. Junior Natalie Bland, who has led Bellarmine's offense in every other match this season, was second on the team with six kills and a team-high nine digs. Senior Kylie Van Hoy tallied 24 assists, adding six digs and four kills with a .300 hitting percentage.

Up next, Bellarmine will travel to Indianapolis, IN to participate in the Hampton Inn Invitational, hosted by IU Indy, to take on the Jaguars, Northern Illinois and Gonzaga.

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