Bruins take a bite out of Bulldogs, 3-2

BELLEVUE, Neb. - The Bellevue University volleyball team rallied from a five-point deficit in the fifth set to claim a thrilling 3-2 victory over visiting Concordia University on Tuesday night in a non-conference match-up at the Gordon Lozier Athletic Center.

Bellevue (20-16) has now won four straight and are 20-5 in their last 25 matches. The loss was the fourth for Concordia (17-10), who's receiving votes in the latest Tachikara-NAIA Coaches' Poll, in their last six contests.

Concordia closed the first set on a 14-5 run to turn a 16-11 deficit into a 25-21 victory and an early 1-0 lead in the match. Bellevue started strong after the teams traded points in the early going, building leads of as many as five on two separate occasions but it wasn't enough to hold of the precision serving of the Bulldogs.

The second set saw the script flipped as it was Concordia who built an early advantage, leading by as many as four points at 10-6. The Bruins would take the lead for good with a 5-0 run to turn a 16-14 deficit into a 19-16 lead. From there BU held on by scoring six of the final nine points to even the match at one set apiece with a 25-19 victory.

Set number three saw Bellevue jump out to a big 5-0 lead early and the Bruins only trailed at 17-16 on their way to winning the pivotal set by a score of 25-22 to take a 2-1 lead in the match.

Concordia scored early and often in the fourth set as they rode a 7-2 run to end the set to a 25-15 victory and force a decisive fifth set.

Bellevue fell behind 7-2 early in the fifth set but a well-used time out by the Bruins saw them turn it around and rally back to tie the match at 8-8. Concordia earned a double match point opportunity but three straight points by Bellevue saw the Bruins extend the match to get their own match point opportunity at 15-14. Junior Beth Walker (Dubuque, Iowa) set classmate Symone Faulkner (Denver, Col.) who delivered a thunderous kill to complete the improbable comeback for BU.

The Bruins out-hit the Bulldogs by a margin of .146-.113 and claimed a 54-49 edge in digs for the match. The BU defense should receive ample credit for their play as they didn't allow Concordia to hit better than .167 in any set.

Faulkner and sophomore LaJaida Even (Waverly, Iowa) each finished the match with double-figure kills registering 14 and 12, respectively. Faulkner hit a Bellevue-best .286 while freshman Hope Lambrecht (Wood River, Neb.) hit .278 and finished with seven kills.

Walker once again directed the offense well, finishing with 43 assists while also adding nine digs, just missing her 18th double-double of the season. Freshmen Taylor Holz (Omaha, Neb.) and Hannah Taylor (Hallam, Neb.) finished with 19 and 10 digs to lead the Bruins' defensive effort  while Faulkner (3 block solo, two block assists), Lambrecht (6 block assists), and Walker (4 block assists) were all solid at the net.

Bellevue will take to the court next on Thursday, Oct. 30 when they host the College of Saint Mary Flames in an MCAC match at 7:00 p.m. at the Gordon Lozier Athletic Center.