BU sweeps Day One at Julie Martin Memorial Tournament

LIVONIA, Mich. -- The No. 24 Bellevue University volleyball team won a pair of matches on day one of the Julie Martin Memorial Tournament, hosted by Madonna University.

Bellevue defeated Windsor 3-1 in the opener before going on to upset No. 19 Madonna 3-2 in the nightcap.

Records:

#24 Bellevue: 8-3
Windsor: 1-1
#19 Madonna: 7-1

#24 Bellevue 3, Windsor 1 (25-21, 25-20, 22-25, 25-14)

Olivia Galas directed the offense to a .279 hitting effort with 43 assists to go along with her six digs and seven kills (.545 hitting).

Sierra Athen recorded her team-leading fifth double-double of the season, finishing the match with 16 kills (.303 hitting) and 14 digs.

Shayla Scanlan (.219 hitting) pounded out 12 kills and Andrea Carson aided the BU attack with nine kills (.222 hitting).

Madi Evans paced the Bruin defensive efforts with 20 digs as Bellevue out-dug the Lancers 55-40 and out-blocked Windsor by a 6-4 margin. Coree Lipovsky and Scanlan each totaled four blocks for Bellevue.

Hannah Camrass led a Windsor attack which hit .181 with 13 kills (.267) and Jade Ziebarth added nine (.185) in support.

Grace Heath had 26 assists and six digs for Windsor. Joey Hewick totaled 12 digs to lead the Lancers.

#24 Bellevue 2, #19 Madonna 0 (25-15, 25-9, 22-25, 25-27, 15-9)

Sierra Athen turned in another strong all-around performance compiling 18 kills on .378 hitting, while adding 18 digs for her sixth double-double of the season. Shayla Scanlan registered 14 kills and six blocks and Coree Lipovsky finished with a season-high 15 kills on .303 hitting. Andrea Carson was the fourth Bruin in double figures, collected 11 kills while adding eight digs and a pair of blocks. 

Freshman Sienna Black, getting the first start of her career, produced six kills and a match-high 10 blocks as the Bruins held a 20-9 edge in total blocks in the match. 

Olivia Galas directed the offense to a .272 hitting percentage, dishing out a season-high 58 assists to go along with seven digs and five kills. 

Defensively, Bellevue was paced by Madi Evans who finished with a season-high 26 digs and four assists. 

Madonna was led by Erica LaBaere's 15 kills. Nyla Greer added 11 kills and six total blocks.

After BU dominated the opening two sets hitting a combined .450 with just three hitting errors, the Crusaders closed the third set on a 4-1 run to force a fourth set. The Bruins squandered four match points in the fourth set as MU evened the match a two sets apiece. 

The Bruins raced out to a 5-1 lead in the fifth and never trailed en route to the convincing 15-9 victory. 

Up Next:

Bellevue continues play at the Julie Martin Memorial Tournament with two matches tomorrow. The Bruins square off against Rochester at 9 a.m. before closing out play against Olivet Nazarene at 1 p.m.

Notes:

• The match against Windsor was the program's first-ever against a Canadian opponent.
• The win over Windsor was Bellevue's first win in which they did not sweep their opponent.
• BU's win over Madonna in the second match was the team's first - in their first attempt - against a ranked opponent this season.
• The Bruins have now won the last three matches in the series with Madonna, all coming in five sets.
• BU now leads the series with Madonna, 3-2.