Box Score RENO, Nev. - - After falling in the first set, 18-25, Belmont
battled back to take a 2-1 lead before ultimately falling to Notre
Dame, 3-2, in the Nevada Invitational in Reno, Nev., Friday night.
The Bruins took sets two and three, 25-21 in both sets, before
dropping set four, 17-25, and then falling in the deciding set,
9-15.
The Bruins were paced by senior Kayla
Albritton (Gainesville, Fla.) with 17 kills. Belmont also got
10 kills each from junior Maggie
Johnson (Naperville, Ill.) and senior Tara Blood
(Boise, Idaho). Both teams were even across the statistical
categories, with each team turning in 52 kills, and nearly matching
up in assists (44 for Belmont, 45 for Notre Dame), digs (41 for
Belmont, 42 for Notre Dame), and blocks (20 for Belmont, 25 for
Notre Dame). Belmont led both teams in aces, with nine, including
four from senior Carly
Frazier (Stillwater, Okla.). Freshman setter Hannah
Miranda continued to lead the Bruins in assists with 40. It was
the second time this season Miranda has turned in 40 plus kills in
a single match. She had 45 kills Tuesday night against Tennessee
Tech.
The play of Albritton has been one consistent positive for
Belmont in what has so far been a roller coaster start to the
season. She turned another solid performance tonight, adding a
service ace, four digs,, and seven block assists to her team-high
17 kills.
"I was really pleased with Kayla and her ability to attack
against a physical Notre Dame team," Head Coach Deane Webb
said.
Another positive for Webb was the play of freshman Allison
McCoy (Huntington Beach, Calif.).
"I thought Allison did a nice job tonight," Webb said. "It
was the first night we were able to get her involved in the offense
the way we'd been hoping to. For a freshman, coming out and having
five kills and six blocks, it was a great beginning to what we
think is going to be a wonderful career for her."
Putting together a complete match has been difficult at times so
far this season for the Bruins. That was the case again tonight
after Belmont dropped the first set, bounced back to take sets two
and three, then failed to capitalize on their one set lead and
dropping the next two sets. While there were positives for the
Bruins against a tough Irish team, Coach Webb wasn't satisfied with
his team's effort when it came to closing the match.
"I really thought in the middle and on the right where we
attacked well, that all three of those attackers were great. I just
really feel like we didn't compete hard enough at the end of the
match when we had the chance to win it. "
Coach Webb hopes his team can become more consistent throughout
the match and make the most of what they learned in the loss.
"Our goals going into the match was to win first ball contact by
a greater margin than Notre Dame won third ball contact," Webb
said. "Then at the end, we weren't good at the net, we
stopped blocking balls and committed unforced hitting errors. This
was certainly a match that we can learn a lesson from it and we
know we need to compete for five games and not just for three and a
half games. Hopefully that's something we'll be able to do
tomorrow."
The Bruins will be back in action on Saturday in the Nevada
Invitational against the host team, Nevada, at 2 p.m. Belmont will
end the weekend with a match up against Weber State at 7 p.m.
