RADFORD, Va. — The Bellarmine University volleyball team turned in a great day on the court as
Natalie Bland recorded her 1,000
th career kill along with two wins over Norfolk State and Chattanooga in the Highlander Invitational at the Dedmon Center.
Bellarmine won both matches in 3-1 fashion, first defeating Norfolk State 20-25, 25-16, 25-11, 25-23 before taking down Chattanooga 25-22, 19-25, 25-12, 25-22.
Senior
Natalie Bland became the first player in Bellarmine's Division I era, the 12
th player in program history, to record 1,000 career kills with her eighth kill in the Chattanooga match.
With the pair of wins, Bellarmine moves to 6-4 on the season and has won each of its last three matches.
In match one, Bland and freshman
Mady Yaden led the Knights with a match-high tying 12 kills each. Bland turned in her fifth double-double of the season as she notched 13 digs, adding one block while Yaden contributed three digs. Freshman
Maddie Carnes also recorded her fifth double-double of the year with 33 assists and 13 digs, adding three kills and two blocks. Sophomore
Mary Herman was dominant at the net, registering six blocks in the match, adding four kills, two aces and two digs. Freshman
Abbie Lyttle had the hot hand from the service line, recording a career-high seven aces. Her seven aces are the second most by a Knight in a match in the Division I era and tied for sixth most in a match in program history.
As a team, Bellarmine topped Norfolk State in kills (48-39), assists (39-34) and aces (13-6). The Knights collected nine blocks as a unit, led by Herman's six. Senior
Maddie Hagan added four blocks with fellow senior
Erika Smith contributing three.
In the team's first match of the day against Norfolk State, the Knights came out of the gates hot. Bellarmine took an early lead and controlled the scoring all the way through the media timeout. Norfolk State made things interesting after the break, tying things at 16-16 before taking their first lead one point later. From there, the Knights rallied and regained the lead, looking to finish things off for a 1-0 start. The Spartans had other plans however, coming back from a 20-17 deficit to win the stanza 25-20. After the opening loss, Bellarmine had a different mindset. The Knights once again took control early in the second game and never looked back. Bellarmine pushed its lead as high as 10 points in the set before going on to win 25-16 to even the match at 1-1. The third was much of the same from BU, as the Knights continued to pour in the points. The lead got as high as 14 in the third set as Bellarmine dominated for a 25-11 win to go up 2-1. In the fourth, Norfolk State found its footing again. Tightly contested from start to finish, Bellarmine had to battle for every point it scored. BU took a small lead into the media timeout and pushed it up to five at 20-15, but Norfolk State would not go down without a fight. The Spartans rallied to tie the set at 23-23 before calling a timeout to make a final push. Out of the break, Bellarmine got straight to business, scoring the final two points to secure the set 25-23 and win the match 3-1.
Yaden took sole possession of kill leader in the second match, turning in a match-high tying 15 eliminations. Bland was close behind, tallying 13 kills in her record setting performance, while also collecting her second double-double of the day with 10 digs in addition to three aces and a block.
Mary Herman rounded out the team's top hitters with 10 kills on a whopping .529 (10-1-17) hitting percentage. Carnes dished out 47 assists in the contest, adding seven digs, three aces and three blocks. Junior
Payton Parsons registered a match-high 20 digs while Smith turned in four blocks in addition to eight kills.
The Knights outdid Chattanooga in kills (54-38), assists (52-38), aces (12-4) and blocks (6-5). In total, Bellarmine recorded 25 aces on the day, good for 3.1 per set.
The first set of the match two was tight from beginning. As the team's traded points near the media timeout, Chattanooga found an edge and took a 15-12 lead into the break. Out of the break, the Mocs continued to push the pace. Bellarmine found its footing again late in the game, tying things at 20-20 before making one final push to win the set 25-22. Chattanooga came out swinging in the second set and took another lead into the media timeout. From there, the Mocs controlled the stanza and never looked back, winning 25-19 to even the match at 1-1. Once again, the third set was tightly contested to start but Bellarmine quickly opened things up with six straight points to go up 10-4 before taking a 15-5 lead into the media break. Out of the break, BU continued to fire on all cylinders and ran away with the game for a 25-12 win. The fourth set began just as the first three did, including Chattanooga taking a lead into the media timeout. The Mocs remained in control after the break, but the Knights vaulted in front at 17-16 before going on a run to push the lead put to five points at 22-17. Chattanooga didn't make down and made things interesting but, in the end, Bellarmine would go on to take the set 25-22 and win the match 3-1.
Up next, the Knights will play one final contest in the Highlander Invitational, taking on host Radford on Saturday, September 19.
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