Belmont 2, ETSU 2

Belmont came firing back in set four, breezing through the set to win, 25-13 and force a deciding fifth set. The Bruins are 2-2 in five set matches this season and will need to get off to a good start to make it 3-2 tonight. ETSU won in five sets last night against Kennesaw State and also won a five set match a week ago against Lipscomb. Belmont starts with the serve and will need to seize the momentum early and build on the last set to advance tonight!

Belmont 1, ETSU 2

Belmont fell in a close set three, 23-25. The Bruins mounted a late comeback, but failed to string together enough points to really put pressure on ETSU until the Buccaneers were at match point and needed only a Bruin error to claim the set. Belmont continued to struggle to maintain offensive rhythm or sustain momentum. Belmont finally hit its stride late in the set, but it was too little too late for the Bruins. Sophomore Allison McCoy shares match high honors with senior Maggie Johnson with 13 kills each. That marks a new season high for McCoy. Johnson has led the Bruins in kills throughout the season. Sophomore Jen Myer has 10 kills and sophomore libero Jamie Lundstrom leads with 14 digs.

Belmont 1, ETSU 1

The two teams are tied after two sets, 1-1. Belmont struggled to find any offensive rhythm in the second set, in a large part thanks to the blocking effort by ETSU. The Bucs lead the conference in that category. Once ETSU got rolling, the Bruins struggled to find their own answer defensively and ultimately fell, 25-18. The two teams are set to start set three as another match between Belmont and ETSU will go at least four frames. Allison McCoy is currently leading the Bruins with 11 kills, while Maggie Johnson and Jen Myer each have six. Both coaches are doing their best to lobby the officials here tonight. In set three, we are tied very early at 1-1.

Belmont 15, ETSU 14

Belmont and ETSU are locked in a back and forth first set. The Bruins currently lead by one, but both teams have held multiple point leads throughout this first set. The first time the two teams met, Belmont won in four sets in the Curb Event Center. The Bruins and Bucs faced off last weekend in Johnson City where Belmont won in straight sets to clinch a share of the conference title and the top seed in the tournament. ETSU had a dramatic comeback victory over fourth-seeded Kennesaw State last night, bouncing back from an 0-2 deficit to win in five sets. Timeout ETSU at 18-15 Bruins.

Atlantic Sun Tournament Semifinals

Belmont takes on ETSU tonight in the seminfinals of the Atlantic Sun Tournament. The Bruins are the top seed in the tournament for the second time in school history after clinching a share of the regular season championship last week. Be sure to check back for updates throughout the match tonight! Belmont and ETSU, 7:30 p.m. at Lipscomb!

Athletics Re-launches Curbside View Blog

Belmont Athletics recently re-launched its Curbside View Blog. Updates from Belmont student-athletes will appear weekly on the Curbside View. Check out sophomore setter Hannah Miranda's post about her trip home to New Orleans at http://gobelmontbruins.blogspot.com/.

The Value of a Home Cooked Meal

This weekend the team took another bus ride, this time down to Georgia for the start of conference play at Kennesaw State (Kennesaw, Ga.), and Mercer (Macon, Ga.). After surviving the Chattanooga traffic, we made a stop in Marietta, Ga., at freshman Kelsi Dean's house. Kelsi's mom, Ruth, put out a fantastic spread of real Southern cooking that included ribs, chicken, salmon, corn on the cob, collard greens and my personal favorite, peach cobbler. I, for one, hadn't had a home cooked meal in at least three months and maybe longer, if you narrow the definition of cooking from, well, heating something on the stove instead of in the microwave, so I was pretty pumped and I think the girls were too. Also, it's worth noting that Kelsi's mom made perhaps the best lemonade I have ever had in my life...so that added to the whole experience. It was a lot of fun to see where a player comes from and this was my first chance to do that since I missed out on seeing Hannah Miranda's house last weekend in Louisiana. One of my favorite parts of the night was getting to meet Kelsi's dog Sebastian, a schnauzer with a ZZ Top beard. By the end of the night, everyone was so full they could hardly walk and we all said goodbye to Ruth, Ashley (Kelsi's younger sister) and Sebastian and headed back to hotel in Kennesaw. The next evening was the first conference game of the season against Kennesaw State. After a slow start, Belmont put on a display of some of its most dominating volleyball of the season, which was really something to see. I know you can credit the Bruins' success to a lot of factors, but I, for one, credit Ruth Washington Dean's home cooking with helping Belmont start A-Sun play 1-0!

--Megan Wilson
Belmont Athletics Media Relations

Welcome!

Welcome to the all-new Belmont Volleyblog, the official blog site for the Belmont Bruins volleyball team! Be sure to check back throughout the season for more posts from Belmont players and staff as the Bruins pursue their third Atlantic Sun Conference title! This week, Belmont fell to 6-6 with a tough loss to Evansville at home. Tomorrow the team leaves for the Big Easy and the Kathy Trosclair Memorial Tournament hosted by Tulane in New Orleans, La.! Sophomore setter Hannah Miranda will be blogging about the trip as the Covington, La. native returns to her home state to play in front of family and friends!