Box Score

INDIANAPOLIS – Bellarmine was in control from start to finish as No. 15 UIndy had only one lead the entire match in falling at home, 3-0 (25-21, 25-21, 25-16), on Friday night at Ruth Lilly Center.

The Knights (17-7, 12-5 GLVC) only trailed 1-0 to start the second set and the Greyhounds (25-6, 14-3 GLVC) only managed to tie the score four times in the three sets.

Bellarmine hit .316 with 48 kills, while holding UIndy to .198 attacking and 38 kills. The Knights were also all over the floor with 59 digs to only 45 for the hosts.

GLVC Player of the Year candidate Kristina Kerrigan led the way with 11 kills and match-high 20 digs, while Hailey Brown came off the bench to add six kills, along with Brittany Anglemyer. Meghan Binkerd finished with 33 assists, four digs and two aces.

Bellarmine put three in double figures with 14 kills, seven digs and three blocks from Paula Byrns and 13 kills each by Krista Gibson and Alyson Harmeling. Bailey BredenbeckCorp posted 40 assists and 10 digs, while libero Jaclyn Ohlmann had 19 digs.

Bellarmine picked up back-to-back kills to open the first set, but UIndy scored the next pair followed by two more from Bellarmine, 4-2. The Greyhounds evened the score at five on a Byrns attack error, but then the Knights pulled away. After a kill by Kerrigan pulled UIndy within one, 10-9, the Knights used a 5-1 run to increase their lead, 15-10. The Greyhounds countered with a 5-1 run to pull within one, 16-15, on a blocking error by BU. Byrns ended the run with a kill and UIndy committed two errors to fall back behind, 19-15, and couldn't mount another rally as Bellarmine took the first frame, 25-21.

Kerrigan's kill staked UIndy to the lead, 1-0, in the second, but it was short-lived. The Knights scored the next four and eventually led by five, 12-7, after a Harmeling kill that led to a timeout from head coach Jody Rogers. That sparked UIndy with three points in a row to force Bellarmine to halt play. Gibson came out of the break with back-to-back kills to put Bellarmine back up four, 14-10. The lead eventually grew to six, 19-13, after back-to-back blocks from Bellarmine, but UIndy rallied. The Greyhounds pulled within two, 22-20, with kills from Kerrigan and Kourtney Crawford, but freshman Shelby Holland halted the rally by hitting her serve into the net and Bellarmine went on to win, 25-21.

The Greyhounds started slow again by falling behind 4-1 in the third, but then came back tie, 4-4, on Crawford and Julia Watkins block. That didn't faze Bellarmine as BredenbeckCorp had a kill on the next play to start a 5-0 run by the Knights. UIndy didn't have any rallies left as Bellarmine cruised to a nine-point lead, 19-10, and put away UIndy on its second match point, 25-16.

UIndy concludes the home schedule tomorrow at 2 p.m. with Senior Day against McKendree.