CAPE GIRARDEAU, Mo. -- Belmont volleyball (8-13, 4-3 ) dropped a five-set match to Southeast Missouri, 16-24, 25-23, 25-18, 23-25, 15-13 Friday night.
"This was a great match," said head coach Deane Webb. "Two teams competing with a high level of effort and intensity. As we prepared this week, we expected a closely contested match. These are two teams that were very evenly matched statistically before the match, and at the end they were two points better than we were."
In the first set, Southeast Missouri struck first in the opening set. Belmont kept the set close, until the Redhawks went on a 5-0 run, extending their lead to 12-6. Freshman Jocelyn Youngdahl (Stillwater, Minn.) ended SEMO's run and sparked a short run for the Bruins, bringing the set within three points.
The Redhawks went on to score six unanswered points taking a 24-16 before closing out the set.
"We came in expecting great things from their middles. They were good, but their outsides were the difference in the match," said Webb.
In the second set, Youngdahl tied the set at one and similiar to the first set with the two teams exchanging points. The Bruins took a two-point lead, 7-9, taking advantage of SEMO attack errors.
A short run sparked by junior Hannah Miranda (Covington, La.) gave Belmont a three point run. However the Redhawks went on to score four unanswered points, taking a two-point lead over the Bruins, 14-12.
Behind a kill from redshirt freshman Madison Croft (Edwardsville, Ill.) was able to close out the set, 25-23 and tie the match at one set each.
After the break, Belmont jumped out to an early 3-0 lead before SEMO silenced their run. The Bruins answered by scoring four unanswered to take an 11-6 lead. The Redhawks tied the set at 12 after a short 4-0 run.
Sophomore Alex Martin (Ooletwah, Tenn.) sparked a 4-0 run, giving the Bruins a five-point lead, 18-13.
Belmont closed out the second set, 25-18.
The fourth set remained close until SEMO took a two-point lead, 11-9, but Belmont didn't let the Redhawks extend their lead as they tied the set at 11.
Belmont scored four unanswered points to tie the set at 21. Junior Jen Myer (New Braunfels, Texas) decreased SEMO's lead to one, before the Redhawks closed the set, 25-23, forcing the match into a deciding set.
In the deciding set, the Bruins fell behind 9-5 before rallying to tie the score at 11-11, 12-12, and 13-13. However, the Redhawks won the final two pressure-packed points, took the set, 15-13 and won the match to maintain their unblemished conference mark.
Myer led the Bruins with 22 kills, while junior Jamie Lundstrom (La Grange, Ill.) paced the defense with 24 digs. Martin tallied six blocks throughout the match. Miranda dished out 59 assists.
"Several of our played played well tonight, and what really impressed me was the ability of a couple of players to play very well late after struggling early," said Webb.
Belmont will be back in action tomorrow afternoon at 2:00 p.m. at UT Martin.
