BELLEVUE, Neb. -- The seventh-ranked Viterbo University V-Hawks took a straight set victory over the No. 25 Bellevue University volleyball team by scores of 25-21, 25-16, 25-21 on Friday evening at the Gordon Lozier Athletic Center.
The win by Viterbo (27-5, 13-0 NSAA) secures the North Star Athletic Association Regular-Season Championship outright as the V-Hawks locked down the top seed, along with hosting duties, in next week's NSAA Tournament.
Bellevue (22-10, 10-3 NSAA) has secured the No. 2-seed in the NSAA Tournament. The Bruins will face the winner of the 3-v-6 match on Friday, Nov. 9
Viterbo led nearly wire-to-wire in the opening set, with BU managing to tie the score at 3-3 and 4-4, before pushing the lead to a nearly insurmountable 24-16. However, BU rattled off five straight points to make things interesting before Miah Garant recorded a kill to give the V-Hawks a 1-0 lead in the match.
Bellevue continued their strong play into the second set when a kill from Olivia Galas tied the set at 7-7 but an 11-4 Viterbo run all but put the set away. The V-Hawks scored five of the last six points to take a commanding two sets to none lead.
The third set followed a similar script with BU falling behind in the early going but staying close. Back-to-back attack errors from the V-Hawks with Galas serving saw the Bruins tie the score at 17-17. A 4-0 run by Viterbo again put them in a strong position. Sierra Athen pulled BU to within a point at 22-21 but Viterbo again scored four-straight points to take the set and the match, 25-21.
Shayla Scanlan was the lone Bruin in double figures with 11 kills on .333 hitting. Athen added nine kills.
Madi Evans led the Bruins' defensive effort with 10 digs and Coree Lipovsky and Rosa Reed-Bouley each added five blocks.
Galas had 25 assists to guide the Bruin offense to a .101 hitting percentage.
Aubrey Aspen led a balanced Viterbo attack which saw four players register at least seven kills. She finished with 11 kills on .185 hitting. Katie Frohmader totaled nine kills while Siera Skow and Lydia Xu each finished with seven.
Chloe Jakscht (21) and Lauryn Sobasky (15) shared setting duties and combined for 36 assists as Viterbo out-hit BU .185-.101 on the evening.
Rachel Frankowski led Viterbo with nine digs and Aspen added seven blocks. The V-Hawks out-dug Bellevue 45-40 and blocks were even at 10 apiece.
BU wraps up the regular-season on Saturday afternoon with a 1 p.m. match against Waldorf University at the Gordon Lozier Athletic Center. Senior Day ceremonies, honoring Shayla Scanlan and Fabiola Aviles, will be conducted following the match.