Oct. 31, 2009

Box Score

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. - Juniors Tara Blood and Kayla Albritton teamed up for eight of Belmont's 14 total blocks, as the Bruins defeated Jacksonville for the first time on the road on Saturday afternoon (17-25, 30-28, 25-20, 25-15).

Belmont's 14 blocks is a season high for the Bruins, and is the most since a 3-1 win over Lipscomb on Oct. 23, 2007, when the Bruins yielded 15 blocks. It also sets a season-high for blocks in an Atlantic Sun Conference match.

Blood set a career-high of nine blocks, along with nine kills and no attacking errors for a career-high .600 hitting percentage. It was also a day of career-highs for Albritton, recording bests of 16 kills, seven blocks, and six digs. The Gainesville, Fla., native had her fourth-straight match with a hitting percentage above .350, finishing with a .375 attack rate on Saturday.

"That really set the tone for the match," Head Coach Deane Webb said. "As a team, we blocked well but whenever Kayla and Tara were up there together it was a game-changing type of block. As they started to pile up, it really affected the way (Jacksonville's) outside hitters went after us."

After Jacksonville took an early 1-12 lead, the Bruins went on to lose the first set, 17-25, but were able to recover to win the next three sets. After 17 ties and five lead changes the Bruins prevailed with the second set win, 30-28.

Recording a combined .041 hitting percentage in the first two sets, Belmont was able to turn things around offensively in the remaining sets with a combined .449 hitting percentage. The Bruins recorded just three attacking errors in the last two sets, winning set three, 25-20, and set four, 25-15.

In Belmont's two wins over North Florida and Jacksonville this weekend, four of the nine total sets went into extra-points with the Bruins winning three.

"This weekend was a great test for us," Webb said. "It doesn't do a lot for our team to hammer our opponent by five or seven points. We need those close sets to really grow as a team. To have the mental strength to from behind each time is an asset to our growth."

Senior middle Jenny Gray had six kills with no attacking errors, while leading the Bruins in digs with 10. Sophomore outside hitter Maggie Johnson had 13 kills and nine digs.

Jacksonville (16-7, 12-4) was led by Brooke Singleton's double-double of 12 kills and 13 digs. The Dolphins also gave up 14 blocks against Louisiana Tech in a four-set loss on Sept. 4.

The Bruins will wrap-up a four match road trip in South Carolina as they face USC Upstate next Friday and Furman next Saturday.