HIGHLAND HEIGHTS, Ky. - Kristin Koralewski and Maggie Pugh combined for 23 kills Saturday as Northern Kentucky University posted a 30-28, 30-20, 30-20 win over Bellarmine University in Regents Hall.
Koralewski finished with 15 kills, seven digs and a .565 hitting percentage as the Norse won their Great Lakes Valley Conference opener and improved to 8-4 overall. Pugh added eight kills in 12 attempts with no errors for a .667 hitting percentage.
NKU has now beaten Bellarmine 24 consecutive times, and the Norse lead the all-time series with the Knights by a 48-8 margin.
NKU has not lost to Bellarmine (1-3 overall, 1-1 GLVC) since the 1992 GLVC Tournament.
The Knights rallied from an 8-5 deficit in the third game to tie the score at 15-15, but NKU used a 15-5 run to close out the match. Koralewski picked up three kills to key the run, while Lynne Fischesser served two aces during the Norse spurt.
NKU converted 15 of its 26 attacks in the third game and had just four errors for a .423 hitting percentage.
Koralewski now has 1,103 career kills at NKU, and she is ninth on the Norse’s all-time list in that category. She also needs just 36 digs to become the sixth player in NKU history to record both 1,000 digs and 1,000 kills.
NKU attacked at a .356 clip as a team and limited Bellarmine to just a .162 hitting percentage. Fischesser finished with four service aces and seven kills.
Andrea Lanham collected 37 assists and eight digs for NKU, while teammate Liz Holmes added six kills, two service aces and five digs.
NKU will play host to Southern Illinois University at Edwardsville next Friday at 7 p.m. in Regents Hall.
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Kristin Koralewski |