Box Score OXFORD, Miss.- Belmont volleyball drops the match against undefeated Southern Mississippi by a deficit of 3-1. Set scores were 24-26, 22-25, 19-25 and 15-25. Bruins came out fighting in the first two sets, but Southern Miss powered back with their offense taking home the victory.
"It was another tough match today versus Southern Mississippi," said Head Coach Tony Howell. "They played us very well today."
The Bruin offense was lead by Senior
Jocelyn Youngdahl (Stillwater, Minn.) who posted 10 kills and only two errors on 17 attempts recording a .471 hitting percentage. Sophomore
Arianna Person (Lenexa, Kan.) recorded 15 kills for an average of .136 on the match. The team as a whole recorded 51 kills in four sets. Sophomore
Emma Price (Fort Mill, SC) recorded 39 assists and nine digs in the match, while sophomore
Emily Richards (Penfield, N.Y.) led the defense with 11 digs.
"It was frustrating to not come out with the win, but I think individual pieces are getting better each game." said Youngdahl. "We're confident that all the pieces will come together for conference, so we are excited to start conference play. We definitely learned a lot from this game."
Belmont lost a close first set 26-24 against Southern Mississippi. After trailing Southern Miss 8-3, a kill by Youngdahl, Person, and Price along with a few hitting errors by the Golden Eagles, the Bruins tie up the set at eight a piece. With a service ace by Person Belmont took a 12-9 lead. Shortly after Southern Miss strung together six straight points to take a 15-12 lead. From that point on it was a point-for-point battle until a kill by the Golden Eagles closed out set one.
Set two was a battle for points until the Bruins took an 11-7 lead with Youngdahl at the service line. Belmont would hold this lead, at some points leading by as many as five points and close out set two with a score of 25-21. The two teams were locked in at one set a piece heading into the intermission.
Set three proved to be a battle for the Bruins. Southern Miss took an early 5-1 lead. In the middle of the set Youngdahl and freshman Tori Simmons (Murfreesboro, Tenn.) put down a couple kills to give the Bruins their only lead of the set with a score of 16-15. The Golden Eagles would once again take the lead back, but held onto it this time. With five straight points the Golden Eagles close out set three 25-19 now leading the match two sets to one.
Set four started as many other Bruin matches start with each team trading point for point. Belmont would tie up the score a few times but Southern Miss maintained the lead for the first half of the set. Despite a tough battle by the Bruins the undefeated Golden Eagles would take set four and the match 25-15.
"What we will need to do for Buffalo tonight is reestablish our style of play," said Howell.
With the loss to Southern Mississippi Belmont falls to 0-2 on the weekend and 2-6 overall. Bruins will finish out the weekend against Buffalo at 7:30 central time this evening in Oxford. Live stats will be available at belmontbruins.com.
