Bruins split on final day of Clarke Tournament

DUBUQUE, Iowa - The Bellevue University volleyball team split a pair of games on day two of the Clarke University Tournament. Bellevue used a clean sweep in the opener to get past Mount Mercy University, 3-0, but saw an 11-game win streak snapped with a 3-2 loss to Clarke University in the nightcap.­

Following an 11-match losing streak to begin the season, Bellevue had righted the ship to win 11 straight matches before falling to Clarke and now rest at 11-12 on the season.

Match One: Bellevue 3, Mount Mercy 0 (25-17, 25-18, 25-19)

Sophomore LaJaida Even (Waverly, Iowa) finished with a team-high nine kills and junior Beth Walker (Dubuque, Iowa) recorded her team leading 11^th double-double with 28 assists and 13 digs at Bellevue cruised to a 3-0 victory over Mount Mercy to improve to 3-0 on the weekend.

Even's nine kills led yet another balanced offensive effort by the Bruins, who attacked at a .373 clip for the match. Freshman Rachel Wald (Omaha, Neb.) and junior Symone Faulkner (Denver, Col.) each added eight kills with Faulkner hitting a team-high .545. Freshman Gracie Myers (Treynor, Iowa) finished with seven kills and a .385 hitting percentage for BU.

Defensively, freshmen Taylor Holz (Omaha, Neb.) and Hannah Taylor (Hallam, Neb.) recorded four and three digs, respectively, in support of Walker. BU limited Mount Mercy to just a .073 hitting percentage in the match.

Match Two: Bellevue 3, Clarke 1 (25-21, 20-25, 25-23, 24-26, 11-15)

Symone Faulkner's 20 kills and .405 hitting percentage were easily team-highs but not enough as Bellevue had their winning streak snapped with a hard-fought 3-2 loss to host Clarke in the final match of the tournament.

Bellevue and Clarke traded victories in the first two sets in what would be a preview of things to come for the remainder of the match. In the third set BU erased a 20-16 deficit by scoring nine of the final 12 points to claim a 25-23 set victory and grab a 2-1 lead in the match. The Bruins looked close to having things wrapped up in the fourth set, leading 23-20, but four straight Clarke points gave the home-standing Crusaders a 24-23 lead before they held on for the 26-24 victory to force a decisive fifth set.

In the fifth set Clarke jumped out to a 6-1 lead prompting the Bruins to take a timeout to try to regroup. By that point it was too late as Clarke maintained at least a three point lead the rest of the way as they won the fifth set by a final score of 15-11.

Rachel Wald and LaJaida Even joined in the offensive attack with each recording double-figure kills. Wald finished with 12 kills and .320 attack percentage while Even recorded 10 kills and hit at .129. Beth Walker directed the offense with 50 assists to go along with her nine digs.

Taylor Holz finished with a team-high 21 digs while freshman Addison Smith (Papillion, Neb.) chipped in with 12.

Bellevue will be back in action when they host No. 18-ranked Hastings College on Wednesday evening at 7:00 p.m. in what will be just the second home match in the last month for the Bruins.

All-Tournament Team:

LaJaida Even, Bellevue

Symoney Faulkner, Bellevue

Taylor Trotter, Missouri Valley

Emily Wineinger, Clarke

Tayler Hegg, Cardinal Stritch

Leslie Hoffmann, Mount Mercy

Allyson Murray, Robert Morris

McKenzie Pantana, Calumet