Bellevue College women’s volleyball opened up 2021’s regular season with four matches in two days as the Bulldogs went 3-1 over the weekend in the North Region Challenge. The setup included both Bellevue and Edmonds (of the North Region) hosting two other NWAC clubs on Friday before exchanging squads today.
Bellevue won their season opener Friday 3-0 over South Puget Sound before going five games with Chemeketa, eventually topping the Storm 3-2. In the win over South Puget Sound, the ‘dogs came out attacking with a strong .435 hit percentage clip. BC also had 10 service aces led by Malia Honrud, who had 5 of them and also gave out 16 hits. Ariana Bilby and Morgan Joseph did the damage offensively with 8 and 7 kills respectively.
After winning sets one (25-13) and three (25-16) in convincing fashion, Chemeketa took set four 25-19 before the nail-biting fifth set which Bellevue took 15-13. The score was dead even most of the way before kills by Joseph and freshman standout Marina Tukan clinched it for the Bulldogs.
In today’s opening win over Blue Mountain, Bellevue was only tested in set three winning 30-28 in the marathon set. Bellevue used all 14 players with 11 playing multiple sets showing off their depth. Bilby had 9 kills and only one error while Justin Benson had 17 digs.
In the afternoon finale, Bellevue fell to Walla Walla 3-1. After being dominated in the first two sets losing 25-18 and 25-14, BC rallied to take set three 26-24 before falling in another close set 25-21 in the fourth. BC hit at only a .217 clip which added to the struggles. Savannah Sleasman, back for her third year with the ‘dogs led the team with 5 kills and 10 digs.
Bellevue, which played almost as many matches to open up the fall season as they did the entire year last spring, is now 3-1 and is on the road to face more top NWAC competition to face Rogue and Linn-Benton, a traditional powerhouse in the South Region, on Monday August 30. Both matches will be held at Linn-Benton in Albany, OR
Last Updated August 28, 2021
