LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Prior to Saturday's match against Lipscomb, the Bellarmine University volleyball team recognized senior outside hitter
Natalie Bland for recently recording her 1,000th career kill, the first in the Division-I era to accomplish the feat.
Little did they know then, but "first in the D1 era" would become a theme for the Knights in their Atlantic Sun Conference opener in Knights Hall.
Bellarmine emphatically got the monkey off its back against Lipscomb, earning its first victory against the Bisons in the D1 era with a 3-0 sweep behind scores of 25-20, 25-19, 25-23.
Lipscomb (7-4, 0-1 ASUN) entered with a 13-0 record in the D1 era against Bellarmine (7-5, 1-0). That included two of the previous three years in Knights Hall where BU dropped five-set heartbreakers to the Bisons.
Bellarmine took a stand Saturday and refused to falter. That became evident in the third set when the Knights faced a 16-19 deficit. Sophomore
Mary Herman delivered consecutive kills followed by kills from Bland and freshman
Mady Yaden as the Knights rallied to knot the score at 20.
A few plays later, Yaden bridged a pair of kills around a point from Lipscomb to set up match point as Bellarmine inched ahead 24-23. The Knights then sealed their landmark win when the Bisons were long on a kill attempt in a sequence that featured an incredible save by Bland, who ran into a folding chair on the Knights bench and followed with a block before Lipscomb's errant attempt.
Although Bellarmine took the first set relatively comfortably, it sure didn't start that way. Lipscomb burst out to a 6-1 lead. The Knights settled in after scoring the next three points, but they still trailed 9-13.
Bellarmine overtook the Bisons with a 5-0 run behind a kill from sophomore
Mya White and a service ace from
Abby Julius. The Knights then had a stretch where they scored five of six points to build a 22-17 advantage. An ace by freshman
Maddie Carnes locked up the set.
Lipscomb didn't go quietly, but Bellarmine largely dominated the second set. The Knights ripped out to a 6-0 lead and then had advantages of 12-2 and 15-3, the latter coming after a vicious kill from Bland and back-to-back service aces from freshman
Ava Long. The Bisons rallied all the way back to within 18-22, but the Knights turned them back — and perhaps regained momentum — by tallying three of the next four points.
Bellarmine piled up 12 service aces, which was one shy of tying its season high and was its most in a three-set match this season. Carnes led the way with three, and she also accumulated a match-high 31 assists.
White paced Bellarmine with 10 kills and Yaden followed with nine. Bland notched seven and 10 digs, and junior
Payton Parsons registered a match-high 15 digs. Herman posted a match-best four blocks.
Bellarmine will host Jacksonville in an ASUN contest at 6 p.m. (ET) Friday.
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