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NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- Junior middle blocker Laura McDermott connected on a team-high 13 kills and hit .435 to help the Morehead State volleyball team to a 3-0 (25-18, 25-21, 27-25) sweep of Belmont in both team's Ohio Valley Conference opener Friday night at the Curb Event Center.
MSU (10-5) won its 23rd consecutive regular season conference match and ran its OVC road winning streak to 24 matches. Belmont, which had defeated the Eagles in the 2012 OVC Tournament championship match, fell to 7-10.
Morehead State also got a 10-kill, .368-hitting percentage effort from sophomore middle blocker Hannah Sigala. McDermott has now compiled 38 kills in the last three contests.
"Tonight was a good performance against a very good team," Head Coach Jaime Gordon said. "I was especially proud at how hard our middles worked tonight. They did a great job on transition, and that was a key for us in scoring some big points."
The Eagles compiled a season-best .276 hitting percentage. MSU also tallied more kills (48-35) and digs (56-45) than the host Bruins.
Morehead State fell behind 8-3 in the second set and trailed 18-15 before putting together a 9-1 run to grab momentum late. The Eagles staked themselves to a 10-3 advantage in the third frame before Belmont rallied. The Bruins had set point chances at 24-23 and 25-24, but kills by Sigala, sophomore outside hitter Courtney Smith and junior right-side hitter Alex Fitzmorris guided MSU to close it out in three sets.
"I thought we did a great job fighting at the end of sets two and three," Gordon added. "That says a lot about our character."
Defensively, senior libero Leslie Schellhaas posted her eighth 20+ dig total of the year with a match-best 22. Junior setter Colbey Cameron handed out 38 assists and posted a .429 attack efficiency.
Scarlet Gable paced the hosts with 10 kills and 11 digs. Belmont hit .182.
Morehead State remains in Nashville on Saturday to face Tennessee State in an OVC matchup at 3 p.m. ET.
