KIRKSVILLE, Mo.—The second of a back to back home opening weekend did not go as well for the Truman Volleyball team as they fell to Bellarmine 3-0 (25-11, 25-23, 25-18). After hitting .270 against Indy on Friday night, Bellarmine held the Bulldogs in check with seven blocks and 60 digs; and Truman was limited to 20 kills after getting 45 against Indy.

In the first set the teams were neck and neck until Bellarmine got a 10-6 lead, forcing a Truman timeout. After Truman got the following point, Bellarmine went on a 10-1 run to expand their lead to 20-8. Back to back kills from Ellie Kaat (two of her five kills in the set) gave Truman some brief momentum to make it 20-10, but Bellarmine rebounded to take the set 25-11.

Truman got off to a quick start in the second set. Kills from Kaat and Elise Hardesty built a 9-6 lead for TSU but a 5-0 run gave Bellarmine the lead. The set went back and forth with four ties and three lead changes. From 16-16, a 3-0 run for Truman forced a timeout for Bellarmine. Eventually the Knights reclaimed the lead at 22-21 and took the set 25-23.  

The Bulldogs had the third set knotted up at seven, but from there Bellarmine took the lead and would not let it go the rest of the set. From down 14-10, a kill from Ainsley Heise and an ace from Elise Hardesty looked like the momentum was swinging the way of the Bulldogs, but they could not keep it up as an 8-2 run from Bellarmine made the set 22-14 and put the set out of reach. From there Bellarmine saw the set out for a 25-18 win to take the match.

With the loss TSU falls to 7-9 overall and 1-3 in GLVC play. The Bulldogs hit the court again on Tuesday night at 7 p.m. in Pershing Arena against Quincy.