Volleyball Defeats Murray State In First Conference Game Of Season
- Greer Patten
- 38 minutes ago
- 3 min read
Belmont Volleyball starts conference play off with a win against Murray State on Thursday night, defeating the Racers 3-1.
The first set began as a back-and-forth game between the teams.
For the Bruins, Brooke Gilleland, Emily Warmenhoven and Alexia Smollen led the charge in kills. The Racers had Ella Vogel, Federica Nuccio and Haidi Miliou with the most kills to start.
Both teams struggled with passing and many of the passes were messy and all over the court.
However, the first set also had a lot of strong blocks from both teams.
Belmont libero Lilly Lutz kept her team alive by saving the ball time after time and Lutz recorded her 1000 career dig during the first set.
The Bruins called their first timeout following a run by the Racers to tie the game at 14.
Murray State came back from this timeout stronger, and the Bruins started to lose momentum. Following a Belmont net violation, the Racers had a kill by Alexa Watts and a strong block from Morgan McClure.
The Racers called their timeout when they had the lead at 22-19.
Murray State won the first set 25-19 on three straight kills.
The second set started off with a Belmont kill, immediately followed by a service error on both sides.
The Bruins came into the new set stronger with blocks and kills by Warmenhoven and Bella Mathis.
Murray State hit three balls out of bounds and called a timeout with the Bruins leading 8-4.
This timeout did not help the Racers. Belmont quickly gained momentum with an overturned call and two out-of-control balls by Murray State.
The Bruins began to communicate well while the Racers were struggling with that.
Following three Belmont aces and kills from Lutz, Warmenhoven and Brenna Kauffeld, fans started standing for the last points.
Belmont took the second set 25-14.
Murray State began the third set with a kill but lost the next point due to a net violation.
Both teams were struggling again with a lack of communication, including Murray State players running into each other causing poor passes. The Racers called their first timeout of the set while losing 7-5.
After the timeout, the teams went back to their back-and-forth from the beginning of the game. Kills from both sides were met with strong blocks.
The teams also both had multiple service errors, giving their opponent free points.
Belmont then went on a run with digs from Gilleland, an ace from Madison Lansdown and kills from Warmenhoven, Smollen and Gilleland.
Murray State tried to stop the run by calling their second timeout at 19-16.
However, the Bruins’ run could not be stopped. Belmont took the third set 25-18.
To add to the career records of the night, Gilleland scored her 1000th career kill at the end of the third set.
Like the previous sets, the fourth set started off with back-and forth play between the teams.
Murray State libero Halle Forester helped her team stay alive with multiple digs following spikes from the Bruins.
Mathis and Smollen for the Bruins were a blocking pair allowing almost nothing to get past them.
Both teams continued to struggle with service errors and totaled to six points in the fourth set alone.
Murray State called for a timeout when down 19-13.
The Bruins then had another call overturned in their favor.
Belmont setter Jordan Czajkowski served consistently to bring the team to 23 points.
Kauffeld finished the match off with a kill to put the Bruins at a 25-16 win.
In the end, Murray State’s 21 errors compared to Belmont’s 12 separated the teams.
Belmont plays at Indiana State on Saturday to take on the Sycamores in another conference match. –
This article was written by Greer Patten