Bruins split matches at Grand View Classic

Grand View Box Score
Oklahoma City Box Score

Tournament Website

DES MOINES, Iowa -- The No. 8-ranked Bellevue University volleyball team stepped out of conference play on Friday and split a pair of matches at the Grand View Classic. The Bruins dropped the opener to host No. 24 Grand View 3-1 (25-19, 25-17, 17-25, 25-23) before rebounding with a four-set win over Oklahoma City University (18-25, 25-21, 25-18, 25-18). 

Bellevue now stands at 17-5 on the year. Grand View improved to 14-11 with their win over BU while Oklahoma City sees their record dip to 12-7 with the loss in the nightcap.

The Bruins return to conference play on Friday, Oct. 22 when they travel to Valley City, N.D. to take on Valley City State University in a 6 p.m. NSAA contest. 

Grand View 3, Bellevue 1

Jacki Apel led three Bruins in double figures with 13 kills on .345 hitting in the loss. Apel added five blocks and four digs. 

Sierra Athen registered a double-double with 11 kills and 13 digs. Eve Fountain finished with 12 kills and nine digs. 

Olivia Galas also notched a double-double with 43 assists and 10 digs to go along with six kills, two service aces and a pair of blocks. 

The Bruin defense was anchored by Taylan Keefer's team-high 16 digs. 

Bellevue was plagued by 23 hitting errors and 10 service errors, including six in the final set. 

Grand View, which hit .258 in the match, was paced by Alexa Aldrich-Ingram, who finished with 17 kills on .429 hitting while adding a pair of blocks. 

Jenna Wagemester tallied 13 kills, including the final putaway on match point. 

Chevy Wagner-Chun collected a match-high 22 digs along with two kills and a service ace for the Vikings.  

Bellevue 3, Oklahoma City 1

Despite a slow first set, Bellevue rallied to pick up a 3-1 win over Oklahoma City to close out the day with a split. The Bruins hit .094 in the first before finding a rhythm in the second and third sets, hitting .394 and .462, respectively.

Eve Fountain turned in another monster effort hitting .353 and recording her 14^th double-double with 17 kills and 12 digs.

Jacki Apel joined her in double-figure kills with 15 kills on .286 hitting. Sierra Athen hit .241 on the match, finishing with nine kills.

Olivia Galas directed the BU offense to a .298 performance registering 46 assists to go along with four service aces and four kills on .500 hitting.

Bellevue produced a strong defensive effort, out-digging OCU 66-59 in the match and totaling nine blocks to the Stars' four. Taylan Keeper led the way with 12 digs and Nicole Meyer had a hand in five blocks, four blocks assists, and one solo.

Catelyn Vargas (12) and Ella Lofton (11) combined for 23 kills to pace the Stars' attack.