Jacksonville State University swept Belmont in a two-game home series, dropping the Bruins’ overall record to 1-9 on the season.
The match results may read 3-1 and 3-0, but the final score doesn’t indicate the competitiveness of the two-game series that took place between these two teams.
In the first match of this two-game series, the Bruins fell to the Gamecocks 3-1. However, the game carried with it Belmont’s usual competitiveness and aggressiveness in each set.
After falling behind 2-0 in sets, the Bruins came out strong with an 8-5 lead in the third. The Gamecocks went on a run and tied the game 10-10. Junior Taylor Floyd wouldn’t let Belmont drop its third set, as a late kill after a volley inspired a 5-1 run that led Belmont to win the set 25-23.
Though Belmont stole the third set, it wasn’t enough as Jacksonville State won the fourth set 25-12. The final match score was 3-1 in Jacksonville State’s favor.
Floyd led the Bruins in kills Sunday night with 18. As a team, Belmont totaled 41. Jacksonville State’s Lena Kindermann led all players with 19 kills in the match.
Coming into Monday’s match Belmont tried to make up for what it missed in the first game of the series.
Still, Belmont started the game slowly as Jacksonville State jumped out to a 6-2 lead. The use of the short ball gave the Gamecocks an advantage, and it resulted in a 20-11 lead late in set one.
Despite a late run by Belmont, Jacksonville State held on to win the first set 25-15.
In set two, the Gamecocks picked up where they left off with a quick 10-5 run. Jacksonville State led the rest of the way and ended set two with a devastating 25-13 set win.
The third set, again, was more of the same as Jacksonville State led the entire way. The final score of set three was 25-18. And the final result was a 3-0 match loss for Belmont.
Belmont totaled 26 kills in Monday’s match against the Gamecocks. Both sophomore Laura Shoopman and sophomore Lauren Walsh led the Bruins with seven kills.
Jacksonville State’s Kindermann led the entire game with 16 kills. The Gamecocks as a team totaled 51.
The Bruins will be back on the court Sunday in an away game series against Morehead State University. The game is scheduled to start at 5 p.m.
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This article written by Hanley Riggs.