CRETE, Neb. - Junior Beth Walker (Dubuque, Iowa) recorded her team-leading 18th double-double of the season but it wasn't enough as the Bellevue University volleyball team dropped a gut-wrenching 3-2 (22-25, 22-25, 25-15, 25-21, 14-16) decision at Doane College to wrap up the Bruins' non-conference season on Tuesday night.
Bellevue (20-18) couldn't quite complete the comeback and dropped their second straight while Doane (15-17) has now won three of their last five matches overall.
Walker finished with 34 assists and 12 digs while adding eight kills for a .238 hitting percentage, narrowly missing her second career triple-double.
After falling behind quickly two sets to none, losing both by identical scores, Bellevue regrouped and made things interesting with a convincing third set victory and followed it up by posting a hard-fought victory in the fourth to force the fifth, and deciding, set.
In the penultimate set the Bruins got off to a fast start scoring three of the first four points but a run by the Tigers gave Doane an 8-6 lead as the two teams switched sides. The remainder of the set was tight as neither team could gain a multi-point advantage after Bellevue tied things up at 9-9. Following tied scores at 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, and 14 Doane was finally able to gain separation and win 16-14.
Junior Symone Faulkner (Denver, Col.) led the Bruins with 13 kills while hitting .458 and freshman Rachel Wald (Omaha, Neb.) added nine kills on the evening. Wald also contributed nine digs, trailing only Walker and freshman Taylor Holz (Omaha, Neb.) who finished with 18 in that category.
Bellevue out-hit Doane by a final count of .121-.053 for the match and the Bruins held a 73-66 advantage in digs.
Bellevue will return to the court on Friday, Nov. 7 with a 7:00 p.m. Midlands Collegiate Athletic Conference match-up in Lawrence, Kan. against Haskell Indian Nations University. The bruins will conclude the regular season on Saturday, Nov. 8 with a 1:00 p.m. match in Bartlesville, Okla. against Oklahoma Wesleyan University.
