Sept. 5, 2009

Box Score

NASHVILLE, Tenn. - Belmont volleyball swept Samford on Saturday night to conclude the 2009 Belmont Invitational at the Curb Event Center (28-26, 25-18, 25-21). Kayla Albritton and Megan Clements both received all-tournament nods after leading the Bruins to their first two wins of the season.

Clements earned her way on the all-tournament team with a total of 48 digs (5.33 per set) while recording 21 tonight. Albritton was Belmont's most-accurate hitter with a .396 attacking percentage, 21 kills and five aces over the weekend.

"It was a good field," Head Coach Deane Webb said of the tournament's competition. "In tonight's match, we really had strong defensive play, digging over 20 balls a set and almost three blocks per set. I think both teams played well defensively - a lot of long rallies. There was a lot of determination and hard-work on both sides and we are glad to come out with the win."

The Bruins doubled their season-high of digs in a three-set match with 62 against the Bulldogs. The total is just two away from Tuesday's season-high of 64 digs in five sets against Western Kentucky. Adding to their defensive prowess, the Bruins held Samford to a .092 hitting percentage on the night. It was Belmont's second sub-.100 defensive performance in three matches.

Belmont won set one in dramatic fashion after coming from behind to force extra points, ending with a 28-26 advantage. The Bruins started off strong with a 9-3 advantage before Samford put a run of their own together by scoring seven of the next eight points to tie the set at 11. Down 20-23 later in the set, Belmont chipped away at the Bulldogs' lead behind courageous efforts from the Belmont front line of Albritton, Jenny Gray and Tara Blood who each accounted for the last three kills of the set for the Bruins.

Of the 20 ties in the match, 12 came in the first set.

In the second set, Clements kept the momentum on the Bruins side with two consecutive aces to give Belmont a 10-7 lead. Belmont maintained the lead for the remainder of the second set, winning 25-18.

The Bruins used outstanding defensive movement and passing to keep long rallies alive throughout the match but most notably in set three as they started with a 14-6 advantage and never looked back. The Bruins hit .308 with just one attacking error in the last set. Gray capped off the sweep with a solo block on the final play of the match; finishing with four blocks on the night.

Redshirt freshman Lexi Adams made her first appearance as a Bruin by subbing in for Maggie Johnson with a 23-15 lead. The Plainwell, Mich., native was good for two digs before the match came to an end.

Belmont (2-6) finished the Invitational with wins over Southeast Missouri State and Samford, and losing to champion Central Arkansas.

After winning the first three matches of the season, Samford evens their record to 3-3 by going winless in the Belmont Invitational. Samford leads the all-time series with Belmont 12-5, but the Bruins have won the last three meetings, and four of the last five.

Central Arkansas's Chole Smith was honored as the tournament MVP after leading the field in kills with a total of 48 through nine sets. The Sugar Bears swept all their opponents over the weekend to improve to 3-2 on the season. In UCA's last match Smith tallied 17 kills with no attacking errors.

"I think it was a great tournament," Webb said. "It is interesting that we only had one match go longer than three sets. That doesn't speak to how competitive these matches were. We win this one, but we go 28-26 in the first set; we lose this morning, but we go 23-25 in two of the sets. It has been that way for most of the teams here. That is our goal when we host tournaments. We don't want to get a bunch of bad teams to come and win. Our goal is to get a competitive field and whichever teams plays great can win the tournament and we had that this weekend - Central Arkansas was a little better than everybody else."

Belmont will return to action on Tuesday to host arch-rival Lipscomb in the Curb Event Center. The match begins at 6:30 CST. The last time the Bruins and Lady Bisons met, Belmont captured the 2008 Atlantic Sun title with a three set victory on Nov. 22, 2008 in Macon, Ga.