Volleyball Edged by Southern Illinois In Saturday Thriller

NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- A furious comeback from the Belmont University volleyball team fell just short on Saturday as the Bruins dropped a thriller to Southern Illinois, 3-2, at the Curb Event Center. 

Trailing 2-0 in sets, Belmont (4-11, 0-2 MVC) roared back with an inspired 28-26 win in the third set and a 25-19 victory in the fourth frame to force game five. However, a few too many errors in the final minutes allowed Southern Illinois (9-5, 2-0 MVC) to escape Nashville with a 15-8 win in the fifth set. 

Belmont was led offensively by Kristen Clemons, who tallied a season-high 17 kills on .378 hitting, and Brooke Gilleland, who tied a career-high with 16 kills on .368 hitting.  

Peyton O'Brien facilitated the Bruin offense to the tune of a career-high 50 assists, helping Belmont hit .296 for the night, their third-highest mark of the season.  

O'Brien also collected a career-high 17 digs to secure her fifth career double-double, with Laura Shoopman adding 15 digs and Rachel McBride chipping in 13 digs. 

Belmont out-blocked Southern Illinois 9.0 to 2.0, with Sydney Willis leading the team with five blocks, including a remarkable run of three in a row during the third set. 

1 of 3 straight blocks for Sydney Willis ?????#ItsBruinTime pic.twitter.com/e2SAAhGnuT

— Belmont Volleyball (@BelmontVB) September 24, 2022

Ally Peterson finished with 13 kills and Shoopman had ten, rounding out the four Bruins who finished with double-digit kills. 

"I thought the team responded well," said head coach Katelyn Harrison. "Yesterday, that was a disappointing outcome, but I thought tonight we came out and battled throughout the whole match. Even though we went down two sets, I still felt like we were in it and still battling. We had some really unfortunate points, and some weird things happen tonight, but I thought overall, given what happened, that we responded well. I definitely think today was a maturing point—that's a beatable team so it's a hard loss for us, but hopefully we are feeling more confident going into the next match on Tuesday night." 

It was a valiant comeback attempt from a Belmont team that found itself in an 0-2 hole after ending up on the wrong end of 19-25 and 24-26 scores in the first two frames. 

The Bruins played mistake-free volleyball throughout the second set, hitting .351 as a team, but couldn't quite close the gap as the Salukis took it in extra-points. 

Belmont stayed hot in the third set, hitting .317 and getting six kills from Clemons and five from Gilleland to keep up with the Salukis. A couple of aces from Elizabeth Godfrey and the stretch of three straight blocks from Willis allowed Peterson the opportunity to put the finishing touches on an extended frame with the 28-26 win. 

Still in must-win mode, Belmont kept up the intensity in the fourth set, continuing to feed the hot hands of Clemons and Gilleland behind solid passing and in-system play. 

The fourth frame saw only one lead change, as the Bruins controlled the flow of the game and hit an astounding .452 with 17 kills and only three errors on the way to a 25-19 win that forced a fifth set. 

However, Belmont went cold in the fifth game, collecting just three kills with three errors and ending runs before they started with a few costly service mistakes. 

Final Word 

"I think part of it is just the belief that we can do it. I think there's been so much hype about how good the Missouri Valley Conference is, and going from the OVC to the Missouri Valley and what the jump looks like and I think for us it's just believing that we belong. Hopefully tonight was a glimmer into that, that we do belong and that we can play. But, it's about continuing to build on that so that we start having the result flip." --head coach Katelyn Harrison 

Up Next 

Belmont will face a familiar foe in Murray State on Tuesday night as Missouri Valley Conference play continues at Racer Arena in Murray, Kentucky. First serve is scheduled for 6 p.m.  

The match will be streamed on ESPN+, and live stats will be available on BelmontBruins.com, with in-game updates posted to Twitter by @BelmontVB. 

Follow Belmont volleyball on social media - @BelmontVB on Twitter and @belmontvball on Instagram - for complete coverage of the Bruins. Stay up to date with all of Belmont's athletic programs via the official app of the Belmont Bruins, available both in the Apple App Store and on Google Play.                   

#ItsBruinTime