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Score: Kennesaw State 3, Bellarmine 0, (25-21, 25-15, 25-13)
Records: Kennesaw State (2-0, 2-0), Bellarmine (1-5, 0-2)
Key Players: Lauren Chastang (14 kills, 7 digs), Emma Schurfranz (13 kills, 4 blks, .550 atk pct.), Claire Parsons (7 kills, 4 blks), Jessie Cohen (37 assts, 2 kills, 8 digs), Karlee Groover (11 digs) and Bri Becerra (10 digs).
 
THE STORYLINE: 
The Kennesaw State women's volleyball team settled in for a dominant straight set victory Saturday evening at Bellarmine (25-21, 25-15, 25-13), hitting .374 in the match, .517 in the third set alone, to secure the weekend sweep and a perfect start to the 2021 spring campaign.

SCHUNZEL QUOTES:
On the Owls' clean play…
"Very happy with our crew's performance tonight. Our consistent serving and passing pressure the entire match really challenged Bellarmine and kept them on their heels all night. We handled the ball much cleaner and when our offense gets rolling like we saw tonight, we have a lot of arms who can really terminate the ball."

On the opening weekend sweep...
"Very proud of our team this weekend. Coming into last night, it had been exactly 14 months since our last match, so we had to shake off some rust and get back to moving and competing at game speed. Literally, in the span of this last 48 hours we grew tremendously and learned about things we need to keep improving on. Long way to go, but nice opening weekend for us."

HOW IT HAPPENED:
It was a back-and-forth affair to open the second game as the teams traded points tied at 9-9. The Owls gained the upper hand behind back-to-back kills from Emma Schurfranz. KSU pushed its lead to as high as 18-13 hitting over .400 midway through the set. After Bellarmine cut the deficit to two, 18-16, KSU responded with a quick 3-0 run thanks to kills from Schurfranz, Dani Ballou and a block by Schurfranz and Katie Crocker. The Knights cut the lead back down to two, 22-20, but KSU recorded three of the final four points to take the opening set 25-21.

The Owls picked up the tempo in the second set jumping out to a 6-2 lead. KSU continued to assert itself as two kills from Schurfranz bookended a 4-0 run to give the Owls a 15-7 advantage. The Owls cruised to a second set victory hitting .323 before a solo block from Parsons sealed the 25-15 win.

KSU seemed to only get stronger as the match progressed as the Owls kicked it into a completely new level in the third set hitting a blistering .517 and committing only one error. After falling behind 3-1, KSU rattled off the next five straight points to take the lead. The Owls held on to their lead until a kill from Schurfranz followed by a combo block by Crocker and Schurfranz opened an 8-1 run to give KSU a 19-9 lead capped off by two straight kills from Lauren Chastang. KSU maintained its 10-point advantage until a kill from Lanie Vantrease and another combo block by Crocker and Jessie Cohen sealed the 25-13 set victory and the match sweep.

NOTES
- Emma Schurfranz hit over .500 for the fifth time in her career, finishing with 13 kills on 20 swings and two errors for a .550 hitting percentage.
- Lauren Chastang had her seventh straight game dating back to the end of the 2019 season with double-digit kills.
- Karlee Groover led the team with 11 digs her second straight double-digit dig performance.
- Dani Ballou hit .667 for the match with four kills on six swings.
- Katie Crocker tied her career-high with four blocks.
- The Owls committed only eight errors on the night, compared to eight errors in the first set alone of Friday's match.

UP NEXT
The Owls will play their only non-conference game of the season Sunday (Feb. 14), traveling to South Carolina to face the College of Charleston.