Box Score NASHVILLE, Tenn. - - In a close five set contest, Belmont fell,
3-2, to Memphis in their second match in the Belmont Invitational
at the Curb Event Center on Saturday. The Bruins took the first
set, 25-16, dropped the second and third sets, 24-26 and 19-25,
then won the fourth set 25-16 to force a fifth and deciding set.
Trailing 7-8 at the change over, Belmont battled back to tie the
final set at 11 before ultimately falling 15-11.
The Bruins outpaced Memphis in every statistical category, but
came up short. Costly errors late in sets two and five proved too
much for the young Belmont squad to overcome. Junior Maggie
Johnson led the Bruins in kills with 16, including posting
seven kills in the opening set. Senior Tara Blood
led the team in blocks with six and Johnson, freshman Jen Myer, and
senior libero Megan
Clements shared team-high honors with nine digs each.
"I think overall, it was one of those unusual matches where we
won on paper, we won everywhere but the scoreboard," Head Coach
Deane Webb said. "I don't think I've ever seen a match in my career
where you out-hit your opponents by 100 points and lose and,
unfortunately, that's what happened today. I think this issue with
today was not that we made errors, but that we made untimely
errors. We had late in game missed serves and late in game hitting
errors and that's not the level of focus we need."
After winning the first set 25-16, Belmont fell in sets two and
three, prompting a change in the line-up for Head Coach Deane Webb.
Junior setter Channing
Salava replaced freshman Hannah
Miranda and provided both momentum and an experienced hand on
the court for the Bruins. Salava, the 2008 Atlantic Sun Freshman of
the Year and a 2009 Second-Team All-Conference selection, recorded
16 assists in the match, to go along with one kill and one ace
serve. Although the outcome wasn't what Webb and his coaching staff
would have preferred, there were some positives to take away from
the close match.
"I thought we did some good things out there," Webb said.
"I thought Channing provided a good spark coming in and I'm
really impressed by her ability to do that. As a whole I think we
didn't have the level of focus that we needed."
Miranda paced the Bruins with 28 assists in the match while
junior Katie
Marshall (Glencoe, Ill.) led in hitting percentage with .318
after turning in 11 kills on 22 attacks. It was the first five set
for Belmont since October of 2009 and the first five set loss since
Oct. 25, 2009, when the Bruins fell to Florida Gulf Coast. Belmont
moves to 1-1 on the season and 4-4 in the Belmont Invitational. All
four invitational teams now have a 1-1 record, making the afternoon
matches even more important.
Webb remains two wins shy of the 300-win milestone. Coach Webb
will have another chance to move closer to 300 when the Bruins take
on Jacksonville State at 6 p.m. on Saturday. Belmont is 1-8 against
Jacksonville State with the lone win coming the last times the two
teams met back in 2007. This was the fifth meeting between
Belmont and Memphis and the Bruins now trail the Tigers 1-4 in the
series. Belmont is now 2-9 against teams from Conference USA.
Belmont Invitational Update: Miami (OH) def. Jacksonville State,
3-0. Still to play: Memphis vs. Miami (OH) 3:30 p.m. and
Jacksonville State at Belmont 6 p.m.
Postmatch
Quotes
