MARSHALL, Texas -- After a 3-1 weekend at the Oklahoma Baptist Invitational, the Golden Eagles (5-1) took to the road two days after its previous match, only to post consecutive sweeps over Jarvis Christian (Texas) and Wiley (Texas) Tuesday afternoon.
In the first match of the day, John Brown took advantage of Jarvis Christian in its season opener, courtesy of 11 kills from junior Audrey Dearien, downing JCC, 3-0 (25-8, 25-17, 25-18). Freshman Alyssa Arnold passed out 13 assists and four aces while her counterpart, sophomore Shayna Daniels, collected 10 helpers and launched a career-high six service aces. Junior Melissa Bakke added six kills and junior Libby Blasingame added five terminations in the victory.
The Golden Eagles hit efficiently, at a .333 percent pace, and limited the Bulldogs to a negative .029 percentage, forcing JCC into a negative percentage in two of three sets. JBU converted 31 kills while only committing seven errors and set a team-high by sending over 16 service aces in the lopsided victory.
Having to play in back-to-back matches for the second time in four days, John Brown enjoyed a rematch with the Wildcats after dispatching Wiley 3-1 just this past weekend. This time, the Golden Eagles did even better.
Bakke led the match with 11 kills while Dearien and junior Tiffany Hunnicutt added eight and seven terminations, respectively. JBU hit very well again, posting a .264 percentage while limiting the host Wildcats to a mere .135 percent on the afternoon. Daniels notched 17 helpers and Arnold tossed out 14. For the third time in six matches, the Golden Eagles reached double-digit service aces (10). Dearien and senior Becca Young led John Brown in digs with 14 and 12 apiece.
"I'm proud of our team's efficiency tonight, especially given the fact we ran our 6-2 offensive lineup, as opposed to what we used this past week," said head coach Ken Carver. "We were able to speed up our offense a bit tonight and continued to be aggressive from the service line.
"We were able to play everyone tonight which will continue to benefit our team's depth and versatility. Our current start is very good and allows us some good momentum and confidence heading into our first break of the young season. Hopefully it will allow us to look to step up our game as we prepare for a very competitive and tough slate of opponents at the Baker tournament."
The Golden Eagles will return to action on Friday in the first day of the Baker (Kan.) Invitational in Baldwin City, Kan. JBU will face the host Wildcats to kick off the tournament before a tilt with Graceland (Iowa) to finish the first day of matches.
Sports on 08/31/2014