The John Brown women's soccer team is the slight favorite in what is expected to be a fiercely contested women's soccer race in the Sooner Athletic Conference, according to voting by the league's coaches in the annual preseason poll announced Monday by the league office.
The Golden Eagles, who finished last season with a 14-4-3 record and claimed last year's SAC tournament title, finished just one point ahead of Oklahoma City, the four-time defending league regular season champion.
JBU was voted first on six of the 10 ballots and finished with a total of 86 points. OCU was a point away, finishing first on the remaining four ballots and with 85 points.
"We are honored that the teams in our conference have thought highly of us, but we also realize that we have a long way to go," said head coach Kathleen Paulsen. "We are looking forward to the season and all the challenges it presents with great competition."
Texas Wesleyan was picked third with 68 points, while Oklahoma Baptist was fourth (64), Science and Arts fifth (58), and Wayland Baptist sixth (50). Mid America Christian (45), St. Gregory's (33), Southwestern Christian (27) and Southwestern Assemblies of God (24) completed the poll.
Men's soccer picked fifth
After finishing the 2013 season with an 8-10-1 record, the John Brown men's soccer team has been picked to finish fifth, according to voting by the league's coaches.
Science and Arts is expected to again be the team to beat when the 2014 Sooner Athletic Conference men's soccer season begins. The Drovers, who finished 2013 with a 15-5 record and is a six-time winner of the SAC tournament, finished with eight-of-10 first-place votes and 89 points. Wayland Baptist, last year's regular-season runner-up, finished second with 76 points and one first-place vote.
Texas Wesleyan was picked third with 67 points, Southwestern Christian fourth (56), and John Brown and Oklahoma City tied for fifth with 55 points apiece. St. Gregory's (52), Mid-America Christian (40), Oklahoma Baptist (32) and Southwestern Assemblies of God (18) rounded out the poll.
The Golden Eagles return its three top point-producers from last season, including seniors Martin Gonzalez and Ryan Duncan while junior Eli Simonsen will gear up for his third season of play. Gonzalez (10 goals) and Duncan (11 goals) each recorded 25 points last season to lead the squad while Simonsen tallied a team leading 12 assists to finish with 22 points. Gonzalez was named an All-Conference first teamer while Simonsen earned a spot on the second team.
The 2014 SAC soccer season begins Aug. 22, with 10 teams scheduled to compete. SAC teams will use a double round-robin scheduling model, in which each team plays a home and away match against each of the other teams.
The SAC champion is determined by league's post-season tournament which is set to begin Nov. 8. The top eight teams in the final conference standings qualify for the tournament with the winner earning the SAC's automatic qualification into the NAIA National Championships, beginning Nov. 22.
Volleyball tabbed sixth in league
After a 15-19 finish in the 2013 campaign, the John Brown volleyball program has been picked to finish sixth in the Sooner Athletic Conference, according to voting by the league's coaches in the annual preseason poll announced Monday by the league office.
Wayland Baptist is the favorite to claim the 2014 conference volleyball title. The Pioneers, who finished last season with a school-best 36 wins, advanced to the NAIA national tournament semifinals before being eliminated by eventual champion, University of Texas-Brownsville. WBU was voted first on seven of the 8 ballots and finished with a total of 71 points. Oklahoma Baptist, the three-time SAC champion, was a close second receiving the two remaining top votes and 66 points.
Texas Wesleyan was ranked third with 53 points, while Southwestern Assemblies of God was fourth (50), Oklahoma City fifth (49), and John Brown sixth (38). Mid-America Christian (25), St. Gregory's (24) and Southwestern Christian (20) rounded out the poll.
The Golden Eagles will return four key contributors from the 2013 team, including junior outside hitter Audrey Dearien, junior outside hitter Melissa Bakke, sophomore outside hitter and middle blocker Molli Pugh and sophomore setter Shayna Daniels. Despite missing the end of the season with an injury, Dearien finished second on the team in kills (252) and second-best 41 service aces. Pugh and Bakke each contributed 201 kills on the campaign, good enough for third on the team, while Daniels tallied 619 assists and a team-leading 45 service aces. Pugh earned a spot on the All-Conference second team as Dearien and Daniels each were named to the Honorable Mention squad.
The 2014 volleyball season begins on Aug. 18. SAC teams will use a conference double round-robin scheduling model, in which each team plays a home and away match against each of the other teams.
The SAC champion will be determined by the league's post-season tournament. The top six teams in the final conference standings qualify, with the regular-season champion serving as the host beginning Nov. 13. The tournament winner earns the SAC's automatic qualification into the NAIA Championships.
Volleyball earns third straight academic award
For the third year running, the Golden Eagle volleyball program secured Team Academic honors from the American Volleyball Coaches Association, the AVCA announced Aug. 4.
The award, which was initiated in the 1992-93 academic year, honors collegiate and high school volleyball teams that displayed excellence in the classroom during the school year by maintaining at least a 3.30 cumulative team grade-point average on a 4.0 scale or a 4.10 cumulative team GPA on a 5.0 scale.
John Brown was one of 676 collegiate and high school volleyball programs around the nation to capture the plaudit. This number once again breaks the previous year's total of 623 and sets a new all-time high for this award.
"I'm very proud of the consistency our student-athletes have shown in the classroom," said head coach Ken Carver. "We're always striving to pursue excellence on the court, but that doesn't mean we can lose focus in the classroom. I believe this is another validation of our efforts, and I couldn't be more pleased."
This past season, junior Becca Young was awarded the Capital One Academic All‐District volleyball team. Additionally, Young and teammates, junior Vanessa Uhrhahn and junior Kendra Ammons, each nabbed Daktronics/NAIA Scholar-Athlete accolades.
The Golden Eagles finished the 2013 campaign with a 15-19 record and a 9-7 mark in Sooner Athletic Conference play, tying JBU with Oklahoma City for a share of fourth place. John Brown kicks off the 2014 season at the Oklahoma Baptist Invitational on Aug. 22 with a pair of games against St. Thomas -- Houston (Texas) and Tabor (Kan.).
Sports on 08/13/2014