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CHICAGO, Ill. -- Belmont University volleyball dropped two matches on Friday, 3-0 to University of Illinois-Chicago and 3-1 to Chicago State, to open up play at the UIC Invitational from the Flames Athletic Center in Chicago.
"Both opponents that we played today really challenged us in playing aggressively, but also in playing low-error," Belmont head coach Katelyn Harrison said. "Obviously every single match we play this preseason is to help us prepare for going into conference. Playing hard opponents and learning how to change scouting reports and change some strategies on the fly—I think that in moments we did really well with that but I also think that's where we have to continue to work and improve."
Belmont (2-3) will finish up competition at the two-day tournament with a match against Eastern Michigan on Saturday at 12 p.m. CST. Though there will not be video coverage of the contest, fans can follow along with the live stats monitor.
The Bruins fell in straight sets, 12-25, 22-25, 18-25 to a talented UIC side picked to finish second in the Horizon League.
The first set saw Belmont get out to a slow start, committing nine attack errors and never truly pushing the Flames in a runaway 25-12 win for the host.
However, the Bruins quickly shed the disappointing performance with a strong opening to the second set, jumping out to a 5-2 lead. After the Flames responded with a big rally to lead 16-11, Belmont refused to roll over, continuing to feed Taylor Floyd and letting the star outside hitter pick apart the Flames back row.
Riding the hot hand, the Bruins stormed back to take a 21-20 lead and force a UIC timeout. Coming out of the break, however, the Flames scored five of the next six points to put the second set on ice with a 25-22 win.
Floyd finished with a team-high 11 kills in the match, including five in the second set.
In the third, Belmont couldn't overcome UIC's sound defense and gave away a few too many points at the service line and at the net en route to a 18-25 defeat in the decisive frame.
Laura Shoopman was the only other Bruin to record double-digit kills, collecting ten. Coming into the second match of the day against Chicago State, the junior had eclipsed ten kills in each of her previous three games.
Belmont hit just .149 and picked up only one service ace in the 3-0 loss. The Bruins committed seven reception errors to the Flames' one.
Despite a big performance from Taylor Floyd, the Bruins fell in four sets to Chicago State in Game Two of the UIC Invitational.
Floyd recorded a season-high 17 kills with only one attack error, finishing with a remarkable attack percentage of .329 on 47 attempts. The senior continued to come through in big spots whenever Belmont needed to stop a Chicago State run or wrestle back momentum.
Belmont fell 20-25, 25-22, 21-25, 18-25 to the Cougars, who have now won five of their first seven matches this season.
Just like in the match against UIC, the Bruins had a late lead in the second set over an opponent, but this time they were able to close the door on a talented Cougars side for the 25-22 set win.
Sydney Willis was a force in the middle for Belmont, getting in on seven block assists, the most by a Bruin on the young season so far. Willis' dominance at the tape was a theme for Belmont, as the Bruins out-blocked the Cougars 22.0 to 6.0.
"I thought the blocking by our middles and our right sides was exceptional against Chicago State, which was a big improvement from our match against UIC earlier in the day," Harrison said.
Carly Mason not only facilitated the offense with 24 assists, but also aided the Bruins on defense with 13 timely digs.
"Overall, I thought there were some really good things that happened on the court. I thought that we bounced back against Chicago State and were able to make some changes that led to taking that second set. I thought we had a couple games in both matches where we did really well at playing low error but still staying aggressive with serving, passing, and attacking. Obviously we can still improve but overall we played two very solid opponents." --Belmont head coach Katelyn Harrison
Belmont closes out the UIC Invitational with a matchup with Eastern Michigan on Saturday at 12 p.m. CST. While there will not be a video stream of the contest, fans can follow along with the live stats monitor.
