Bruins fall to Jamestown in season-opener

ORANGE CITY, Iowa -- The Bellevue University volleyball team (0-1) opened its 2012 season with a 3-1 (25-22, 23-25, 25-17, 27-25) loss to Jamestown College (3-0) Friday afternoon at the Red Raider Classic.

The Bruins will return to action tonight with a 6:30 p.m. match against Dakota Wesleyan University.

BU was led by Sunny Bell's 13 kills while Courtney Hendricks added a career-high 10 kills on .381 hitting. Jordan Broady recorded a match-high 39 assists along with seven kills and seven digs. Meghan Evans anchored the defense with 23 digs.

Trailing 19-17 in the opening set, the Bruins scored five of the next six points to take to take a 22-20 lead. The Jimmies responded with three kills and took advantage of back-to-back Bruin attacking errors to win, 25-22.

With the second game tied at 10-10, BU used a 12-5 run to take a 22-15 lead. After the Jimmies scored eight the next 10 points, a service error by Alaina Brown allowed the Bruins to win the second game, 25-23. Bell, Hendricks and Sydney DeBoer tallied 12 of the Bruins' 14 kills and helped BU hit .286.

After scoring two of the first three points of the third game, the Bruins never led again as JC posted a 25-17 win. BU was held to just .107 hitting and were plagued by six hitting errors.

The final set featured nine ties and four lead changes and the Bruins battled back from an early 7-3 deficit to eventually take their largest lead of the fourth game, 17-14, capped off by a service ace by Kirstine Linebaugh. After the Jimmies scored the next three points to tie the game at 17-all, neither team would lead by more than two points. Trailing 25-24, JC scored the final three points to take the match, 27-25.