Bruins avenge early season defeat to win Pool Play Opener

Box Score
Pool Play Schedule/Results

SIOUX CITY, Iowa -- The 11^th-ranked Bellevue University volleyball team avenged a five-set September loss by defeating No. 16 Ottawa University Arizona 3-1 on Tuesday evening in the Bruins' first Pool Play match of the 2021 NAIA Volleyball National Tournament.

Bellevue (25-7) defeated the Spirit 25-20, 25-18, 20-25, 25-21 to join eighth-ranked Corban University, also a 3-1 winner over OUAZ, atop Pool H at 1-0 in Pool Play.

The Bruins and Warriors meet tomorrow at 3:30 p.m. with the winner advancing to the quarterfinals as the Group H winner. It would mark Bellevue's first quarterfinal appearance since 2000.

Ottawa concludes their season with a 26-4 overall record after going 0-2 in Pool Play.

Eve Fountain paced the Bruin attack with 17 kills on .273 hitting and adding nine digs. Jacki Apel joined her in double figures with 10 kills on .348 hitting.

Olivia Galas directed the Bellevue attack to a .203 hitting percentage with 46 assists to go along with her team-high 15 digs. Taylan Keefer contributed 14 digs to the defensive effort, as did Sierra Athen who finished with nine kills.

Kate Pestova finished with 14 kills and Livia De Pra added 11 for the Spirit as both players notched double-doubles, tallying 16 and 15 digs, respectively.

Set 1: BU 25, OUAZ 20
Bellevue (12-2-32: .312); Ottawa (14-6-42: .190)

Bellevue scored the first two points of the opening set and never trailed as they jumped out to a 1-0 lead. They led by as many as seven points, 12-5, but Ottawa did not go away easily.

The Spirit cut the deficit to just two points, 16-14, on a kill by Avie Bustko before Bellevue responded three-straight crucial points. Perhaps the biggest coming with the score 17-14. Nicole Meyer's attack, originally ruled out by the line judge, resulted in a kill when the up ref overturned the call for a Bruin point.

Ottawa hung around, again cutting the deficit to two at 21-19, before Haley Fleischman came in with the kill for Bellevue. Ahead 23-20, BU closed out the set with back-to-back kills from Fountain and Haley Fleischman.

Set 2: BU 25, OUAZ 18
Bellevue (16-4-35: .343); Ottawa (12-3-35: .257)

Ottawa and Bellevue traded the first four points as well as 3-0 mini runs before the Spirit took a 7-5 lead with a kill by De Pra and a Bruin attack error.

After Meyer recorded a kill, Bellevue run off four more points behind Galas' serving to take a 10-7 lead. OUAZ tied the set at 10-all but never again led.

Bellevue scored four of the next five points, capped off by a service ace from Raeanne Kimoto and led 18-15 before Fleischman started a 4-0 scoring run with a kill. With Keefer serving, a kill by Meyer and consecutive kills from Fountain gave BU their largest lead of the night, 22-15.

After a kill from Jacki Apel gave the Bruins set point, Galas came through with a service ace to win the set and take a commanding 2-0 match lead.

Set 3: OUAZ 25, BU 20
Bellevue (10-10-43: .000); Ottawa (11-4-36: .194)

Facing a 2-0 deficit, Ottawa again started strong recording five of the first seven points in the third set. That looked to be short-lived when Bellevue ran off six-straight points to turn a 6-4 deficit into a 10-6 lead behind the serving of Galas.

The Bruins again matched their four-point lead at 15-11 following a Spirit service error but that would be the last time Bellevue led.

Ottawa rallied for six-straight points to take a 17-15 advantage and prompt a BU timeout. After trading the next eight points, the Spirit closed the match on a 5-1 run and cut the deficit to two sets to one.

Set 4: BU 25, OUAZ 21
Bellevue (14-5-43: .209); Ottawa (9-7-42: .048)

In contrast to the two prior sets, Bellevue opened the fourth strong, grabbing a 5-3 lead. The lead stretched to 11-7 when Bellevue won a point following an OUAZ attack error.

The lead bounced back and forth from 3-4 points until Jorie Lincoln rattled off four-straight service points, part of a 5-0 run to put Bellevue ahead 21-14.

Athen gave the Bruins five potential match points with a huge swing for a kill to go up 24-19. Ottawa fended off the first two with a kill and a block before Fountain put the match away with her match-high 17^th kill of the night.

Fountain saved her best set for last as she totaled five errorless kills in the stanza.