Box Score
The University of Wisconsin-Parkside volleyball team finished a perfect weekend with a 3-0 (25-18, 25-23, 27-25) victory over Bellarmine University on Saturday afternoon. The Rangers improved to 5-1 at the DeSimone Gymnasium on the year and are a game back of division leader Indianapolis after the first trip around the Eastern Division.
The Rangers showed no signs of a hangover early from their exciting five-set win on Friday night over 12th-ranked Northern Kentucky. They jumped on the Knights in the first set behind eight kills and six digs from
Bridget Nickel. Her kill to make it 21-13 gave the Rangers their biggest lead of the set as they cruised to the 25-18 victory.
The rest of the match was much tighter as the second set saw 15 ties and five lead changes. Other than an early 4-1 lead for the Knights, neither squad led by more than two the entire set. Bellarmine actually held a 22-21 advantage late before the Rangers went on a finishing spurt to steal the set.
Two straight errors flipped the lead and
Cassy Marx added a kill to give the Rangers set point. After a Bellarmine kill trimmed the lead to one, Nickel finished a set from
Cayla Flood to make it 2-0 in favor of the home team.
The Knights actually controlled much of the third set as they looked to lengthen the match. Bellarmine had a 20-16 lead but Parkside caught them for the first time at 22-22 when
Adrienne Uthe slammed home an overpass.
Parkside faced two straight set points but both times Marx stepped up and finished a kill to stave off elimination. The last one sparked the Rangers final rally as they scored the match's last three points for the 29-27 win. The combination of Flood-to-Nickel gave Parkside the lead before Flood quick tipped the final point in between the Knight defense to secure the win.
The victory brings Parkside back to 6-4 overall after an early 0-4 start. The team will be in action Tuesday in a non-conference match at Winona University. They return to GLVC play next Saturday when the head to Missouri-St. Louis for a date with the Tritons. It will be the Rangers first of four GLVC matches against the conference's Western Division.
