BRISTOL, Tenn. – The King University women's volleyball team closed out the regular season with a 3-1 win over Conference Carolinas opponent Belmont Abbey on Tuesday evening. The Tornado finish the regular season at 11-11 overall and 9-9 in conference play.
THE BASICS
FINAL SCORE: King 3 – Belmont Abbey 1
LOCATION: Student Center Complex; Bristol, Tenn.
RECORDS: King 11-11, 9-9 Conference Carolinas | Belmont Abbey 7-20, 5-13 Conference Carolinas
HOW IT HAPPENED
First Set
- King took an early 3-1 lead, before stretching it to 10-7, forcing a Belmont Abbey timeout.
- Coming out of the timeout, King scored four of the next five points, forcing another Crusaders timeout.
- The Crusaders were able to pull to within 18-14, but King scored six of the next nine points, pulling to set point, 24-17.
- Four consecutive Belmont Abbey points brought them to within 24-21, forcing King to call a timeout.
- Coming out of the timeout, the Crusaders continued their rally, scoring twice to pull to within 24-23, at which point Izzy Krick picked up a kill, ending the set with King winning 25-23.
Second Set
- The Tornado started the set by taking the first three points, including a kill from Bailey Fersner to start things.
- The King lead reached 9-4, at which point Belmont Abbey took their first timeout of the set.
- Coming out of the timeout, the Crusaders scored three straight points until a service error ended the scoring stretch.
- King then scored four straight points, taking a 14-7 lead and forcing the Crusaders to call their second timeout.
- The lead continued to grow, culminating at set point for King, when they were leading 24-18. After a Belmont Abbey point, Riley Nelson got the set-ending kill, winning the set 25-19.
Third Set
- King took an early lead, but were unable to gain any separation, as the Crusaders were able to keep the score within three points through the majority of the set.
- A pair of Belmont Abbey attack errors allowed King to take a 9-5 lead, which quickly turned into 9-7.
- The Crusaders eventually tied the score at 14, before taking a brief 15-14 lead, which lasted until a Gracia Love kill.
- Belmont Abbey was able to score four of five points after tying the score at 16, forcing the Tornado to take timeout.
- The Crusaders continued to increase their lead, eventually winning the set 25-21.
Fourth Set
- After a back-and-forth start, the Tornado started to pull away after the Crusaders tied the score at nine, scoring three straight to take a 12-9 lead, causing the Crusaders to take timeout.
- The Crusaders pulled to within 13-12, but seven straight King points saw the lead quickly expand to 20-12.
- Despite a late Belmont Abbey rally that saw them pull to within 24-20, the Tornado held on for a 25-20 set win, and a 3-0 match win.
INSIDE THE BOX SCORE
- Bailey Fersner had her fifth double-double of the season with 12 kills and 14 digs.
- Riley Nelson led the Tornado with 15 kills and 2.5 blocks from the front row. Gracia Love also contributed 12 kills.
- Kylie Love had 29 assists to bring her season total to 565. She and Gabri Puertas each had three service aces. Puertas also had 10 digs on the back row.
FOR THE FOES
- Tyler Case led the offense with 18 kills and Lola Sultenfuss had 13.
- Ella Schellenberg did most of the setting, with 41 of Belmont Abbey's 48 assists.
- Riley Nickol had a team-high three aces. The Crusaders had five different players tally an ace.
UP NEXT
The Tornado will now wait to find out if they qualify for the Conference Carolinas tournament. Information regarding the tournament will be released by the conference office Wednesday night, following the conclusion of all matches.
