Bruins rally from 2-0 deficit to stun Baker

BALDWIN CITY, Kan. – Sophomore Rachel Wald led three players with at least 10 kills to lead the Bellevue University volleyball team to a come-from-behind, 3-2, victory over Baker University to close out the Baker Tournament on Saturday evening.

Baker won a hotly contested first set 25-22 and took a commanding 2-0 lead with a 25-16 victory in the second. Bellevue, showing resiliency, battled to a sizable 25-13 win in the third set to pull within 2-1. Building on the momentum they created with their third set win the Bruins went on to prevail 25-23 in the fourth set to force a fifth.

In the decisive fifth set Bellevue jumped out to a 7-3 lead as Baker called a timeout to try to stem the tide. Coming out of the timeout Bellevue scored two of the next three points to grab a 9-4 edge and force Baker to burn another timeout. Baker rallied after that second timeout to close within one at 11-10 before Bellevue used their first timeout.

Wald tallied a season high 18 kills; her previous season-high of 17 kills came on Sept. 4 in a 3-0 victory over William Woods. Wald hit .270 on the match to help the Bruins to a .217 hitting percentage.

Freshman Shayla Scanlan and sophomore Mikaylah Gillespie also had outstanding offensive games. Scanlan totaled 17 kills on .289 hitting while Gillespie finished with 10 kills and no errors on .526 hitting.

Senior Beth Walker notched her team-best ninth double-double of the year, finishing with 47 assists and 18 digs to go along with eight kills (.333 hitting). Sophomores Taylor Holz (15) and Addison Smith (10) and senior Victoria Bowens (10) each finished with double-figure digs for the Bruins.

For Bellevue, it was their fifth match of the year that went to a fifth set. They are 1-3 in those matches. Last year they played five sets eight times and went 3-5.

Bellevue (6-8) returns to the court on Tuesday, Sept. 15 when they host a tri-match. The Bruins take on York College at 5 p.m. and Grace University at 7 p.m.