John Brown's volleyball team enjoyed its home court Wednesday night.
After playing the first seven matches of the season on the road, the Golden Eagles played their home-opener Wednesday night at Bill George Arena. And in front of a raucous opening night crowd, JBU swept past fellow Arkansas school Williams Baptist 3-0 (25-12, 27-25, 25-19).
"After two weekends on the road, it's always nice," JBU head coach Ken Carver said of playing at home. "Between the rugby team and the (scarf) giveaway and some of the momentum we built over our first two weekends, this was an awesome crowd to play in front of."
With the win, the Golden Eagles (6-2) snapped a two-match losing streak after dropping the final two games of the Benedictine (Kan.) Invitational on Saturday, Aug. 27.
The Golden Eagles capitalized on the big crowd's energy in the first game and jumped all over Williams Baptist with an 11-6 lead after back-to-back kills from freshman Megan Beck and junior Bailei Brown of Siloam Springs and a WBC hitting error.
Williams Baptist trimmed the lead to 11-8, but JBU then went on a 9-2 run to take a 20-10 lead. Freshman Carly Mckinney, senior Molli Pugh and freshman Jessica Meyer all had kills in that stretch, while sophomore Bayli Reagan and junior Alyssa Arnold each had aces from the service line.
Meyer added another kill and a block from sophomore Kennedy Shelstead gave the Golden Eagles a 25-12 win in game one.
JBU controlled most of game two and led 23-18 after kills from McKinney and Pugh and a Williams Baptist hitting error.
The Golden Eagles struggled to put game two away though as Williams Baptist went on a 7-1 run to take a 25-24 lead after kills from Brooke Howell and Madison Laubach and a JBU hitting error.
JBU responded as a kill from Beck tied it back at 25, and JBU then took a 26-25 lead when Pugh's hit found the floor.
Pugh finished off game two with a tip over the Williams Baptist block for a 27-25 lead.
"That second set was pretty sloppy on both sides," Carver said. "A lot of unforced errors is how both teams were scoring points. At the end, the points that we pushed, it was because we were aggressive."
Williams Baptist controlled the opening of game three as the visiting Eagles opened up a 9-6 lead and forced JBU to call timeout.
"One of the things that we really try and stress in practice is being mindful of what our actions are and being consistent with that and with the process stuff," Carver said. "If we're mindful with the process things, our performance follows."
JBU got two big kills from Shelstead, a kill and an ace from Reagan and kills from Beck and Meyer to pull back within 14-13.
Williams Baptist led 17-15 when a Shelstead kill and WBC hitting error tied game three at 17. Bethany Maddox of Springdale served an ace to give JBU a lead it wouldn't relinquish. Brown and Reagan followed with kills for a 20-17 score.
Shelstead added two more kills and Reagan with another to set up Brown with the kill for the match-winner.
"We got spacing after that timeout," Carver said. "It's exactly what we talked about. Try to be mindful moving to the ball, being mindful doing what we're doing with our hands, we're being mindful with how we're talking on the court. That really showed. Kennedy Shelsted got several kills there before she rotated back into the service line. Then I heard our players talk to Bailei Brown to make that tip play at the end for that last point. That's what we talked about."
Pugh led JBU with 11 kills, while Beck had eight, Shelstead seven and Meyer six. The Golden Eagles had a .344 hitting percentage. Arnold and Elizabeth Williams had 19 and 18 assists, respectively, and Beth Brankle of Siloam Springs led with 10 digs. Shelstead and Beck each had solo blocks, while Meyer had two block assists and Beck and McKinney each with a block assist.
"You definitely saw points where our team can block a ton when we get set up there," Carver said. "Obviously Beth Brankle did a great job anchoring the back row defense on some shots when our block wasn't there."
Shelby Wallace led Williams Baptist (0-3) with seven kills, while Laubach had six and Howell five. Jordan Harvey had 14 assists, and Jessica Baugh 12 digs for the visiting Eagles.
JBU will return to action at home at 7 p.m. Tuesday against Science and Arts of Oklahoma to open Sooner Athletic Conference play.
The team practiced Thursday and took Friday, Saturday and today off. JBU is scheduled to return to practice Monday to begin preparations for the Drovers, Carver said. Following Tuesday's game, JBU will host Bacone on Thursday in another conference game.
"We'll bring them back on Labor Day and we'll get after it again and be ready," Carver said. "I think the blessing for us is we don't start off with Oklahoma City or Wayland Baptist. ... I like our chances next week, but obviously we have work to do and we're still not there yet."
Sports on 09/04/2016