Hot-hitting Bellevue dominates Waldorf in sweep

BELLEVUE, Neb. -- Andrea Carson recorded a match-best 14 kills for the Bellevue University volleyball team who could do no wrong in sweeping Waldorf University 3-0 (25-15, 25-13, 25-15) on Saturday afternoon at the Gordon Lozier Athletic Center.

Records:

Bellevue: 2-1 (2-0 NSAA)
Waldorf: 1-9 (0-7 NSAA)

Recap: BU 3, WU 0 (25-15, 25-13, 25-15)

For the second night in a row, Andrea Carson was the star offensive performer for Bellevue. The senior outside hitter put away 14 kills on .480 hitting to lead the Bruin attack. Eve Fountain contributed eight kills on .412 hitting while Coree Lipovsky was a perfect 5-for-5 hitting and Sierra Athen tallied five kills on .300 hitting.

Abygail Wood, Charlotte Wright, and Alisha Schaefer each recorded four kills to share team-high honors for Waldorf. Kaitlyn Bakke totaled 16 assists in the loss while Kaylee Kidd's 10 digs paced the Warriors' defense.

Olivia Galas dished out 36 assists to direct Bellevue to a scorching .383 attack effort while Waldorf hit -.022 as a unit.

Anna Koehler led the Bruin defense with 22 digs while Carson chipped in nine and Fountain added eight.

As a team, Bellevue out-dug Waldorf 51-34 and out-blocked the Warriors by a 9-2 margin.

Set No. 1:

Bellevue led wire-to-wire in the opening set. After a tight start in which saw Bellevue unable to gain more than a four-point lead, the Bruins closed the set strong by scoring the final seven points to take the set by a 25-15 margin.

Bellevue hit .344 and held Waldorf to -.028 hitting, one of two sets in which the Warriors hit in the red.

Set No. 2:

The Bruins were much more dominant in the second set, using a 6-0 run to race out to a 13-4 lead. During that run setter Olivia Galas recorded a pair of kills and three assists to Eve Fountain.

Waldorf posed little in the way of a challenge, never pulling closer than seven points (14-7) the rest of the way. BU scored 11 of the final 17 points to close out the victory.

Bellevue hit a match-high .481 in the period while Waldorf turned in their best hitting effort of the afternoon (.000).

Set No. 3:

Waldorf began the third set in similar fashion to the second, taking an early lead at 3-2 before yielding to an 11-2 Bruin run as Bellevue went ahead 13-5.

BU pushed that lead to 23-10 before a vain 5-0 spurt from the Warriors pulled the guests to within eight before an Andrea Carson kill and a Waldorf attack error saw the Bruins emerge 25-15 winners.

Attack numbers were very similar to the first set with BU hitting .343 to Waldorf's -.032.

Up Next:

Bellevue hosts Valley City State tomorrow in an NSAA match slated for 2:30 p.m. from inside the Gordon Lozier Athletic Center. Once again, attendance will be restricted to parents and immediate family of the home team only.

Notes:

• Today was the first time since Bellevue hit at least .340 in every set in a match since doing so on Aug. 29, 2019 against Lourdes in a 3-0 win.
• With the win, Bellevue remains unbeaten (19-0) all-time in the series with Waldorf, including sporting a 10-0 mark in matches played at the Gordon Lozier Athletic Center.