Bellevue sweeps VCSU on Dig Pink night
BELLEVUE, Neb. -- Behind 21 kills from their two All-Americans, the No. 8-ranked Bellevue University volleyball team defeated Valley City State University 3-0 (25-21, 25-19, 25-18) on Thursday evening in Frontier Conference action from inside the BU Fieldhouse.
The Bruins improve to 12-3 overall and 8-2 in Frontier Conference play while VCSU drops to 6-10 overall and 4-7 in league play.
Bellevue took a see-saw first set, edging ahead by as many as five before holding on to win 25-21.
Valley jumped out to an early 8-3 lead in the second set before Bellevue roared back, out-scoring the Vikings 22-11 the rest of the way for a commanding two sets to none lead in the match.
The final set saw VCSU and the Bruins go back-and-forth early on. Tied at 10-all, Bellevue used an 8-3 run to take a five-point lead and kept the Vikings at arm's length the rest of the way.
Bellevue out-hit Valley City, .193-.040 on the night. Kills were 36-33 in favor of the home side, but 28 VCSU hitting errors were a significant source of the Vikings' undoing.
Defensively, Bellevue pipped Valley 59-57 in digs and out-blocked their guests by a sizable 10-2 margin.
Eve Fountain notched her team-leading seventh double-double of the season, piling up 13 kills on .333 hitting to go along with 11 digs.
Kealy Kiviniemi totaled eight kills on .259 hitting and was one of four Bruins to accumulate at least three blocks.
Mila Aiwohi and Jada Nunn directed the Bruin attack with 19 and 13 assists, respectively.
Morgan Wale paced the Bruins with six blocks, and Zoie Roghair led the way with 22 digs.
Danielle Hagler led the Vikings with nine kills, while Morgan Freije added seven, and Macy Fridgen chipped in seven. Jaycee Richter and Gracie Schumacher both reached double figures in digs with 15 and 10, respectively.
Bellevue returns home tomorrow when they host Mayville State University (5-9/3-6 FC) for a 1 p.m. matinee.
