JBU volleyball signs two

John Brown University volleyball coach Ken Carver announced on Friday, Aug. 4, the signing of a pair of student-athletes to letters of intent to continue their academic and athletic careers as Golden Eagles.

Freshman Taylor Glover (Grapevine, Texas/Nolan Catholic) and Kinzee Mayo (Anthony, Kan./Butler CC) will look to bolster JBU's front-line attack in 2017.

After finishing the 2016 season with a 21-12 (.636) record and an 11-7 mark in Sooner Athletic play, the Golden Eagles captured an SAC tournament quarterfinal win over St. Gregory's (Okla.) at Bill George Arena before bowing out against then-No. 12 Oklahoma City, 3-1, in Plainview, Texas.

With an even more daunting schedule in 2017, the Golden Eagles begin with 10 consecutive contests away from Siloam Springs and travel 1,285 miles before its home opener on Sept. 15 against reigning SAC champions, Oklahoma City. With the addition of Oklahoma Panhandle State and Central Chrsitian (Kan.) to the conference, the SAC has split into divisions and JBU will enjoy a home-and-home with the Central Christian, Southwestern Christian (Okla.), Oklahoma City, Bacone (Okla.) and St. Gregory's (Okla.). In cross-divisional play, the Golden Eagles welcome OPSU, Wayland Baptist (Texas), but will travel to take on Science & Arts (Okla.), Mid-America Christian (Okla.) and the always-difficult Dallas swing against Southwestern Assemblies of God (Texas) and Texas Wesleyan.

JBU's non-conference schedule also includes three tournaments as Oklahoma Wesleyan, Evangel (Mo.) and College of the Ozarks (Mo.) will serve as hosts, in addition to a non-conference trip to Walnut Ridge to take on Williams Baptist and NCAA II Southern Arkansas.

"I like the fact that our conference is becoming a lot more competitive top to bottom," Carver said. "It forces our program to continue to improve on the court as well as the student-athletes we are bringing in to be a part of our team. Our team saw a large degree of success this past year in spite of being very young and, once again, was able to make it to the conference semifinal round.

"Our team had a very successful off-season training and is hungry to make the move up within the conference ranks this year. It will be challenging, but I like the strong nucleus of young women we have, as well as the new players we will be bringing into our program. I feel we have the right pieces in place to make the move up, but we'll have to earn that opportunity with every chance we get to train in the weight room, on the court and ultimately in match play. I'm looking forward to another exciting year of JBU volleyball.

"With the addition of Taylor and Kinzee to a team whose core continues to be made up of younger players, I feel we are continuing to add the right caliber and character of players who help continue to move our team forward," Carver admitted. We've had three straight successful seasons, culminating in back-to-back conference semifinal appearances. Our team continues to inch closer to being capable of winning a conference championship and with these two young ladies joining an already very solid group of players, I am excited to see how things play out during the course of our upcoming season."

Glover, a 5-foot-11 outside hitter, joins the Golden Eagles by way of Nolan Catholic High School in Ft. Worth, Texas. A two-year player for head coach Kameshia Melton, Glover landed back-to-back All-District selections as a junior and senior while also earning academic All-Conference in both seasons. As a senior, she was named to the TAPPS 6A All-State honorable mention team.

"Taylor is the first recruit to come out of our summer volleyball camp program since I've been here. During our 2016 Elite Camp, Taylor performed at a level which set her apart as one of the top players at our camp. Similar to Kinzee, Taylor brings a lot of versatility to the table as well. She is a very effective outside and opposite hitter plus has very solid ball control skills which would enable her to be a six-rotation caliber player. She is athletic and has a big reach which allows her to not only possess a very powerful arm swing offensively, but also allows her to block a lot of balls defensively. With Taylor's addition to our team we've been able to add another who will not only help us score more points, but will also help elevate our defensive game with increased block and dig production."

Mayo makes her way to JBU after spending last season with Butler CC in El Dorado, Kan., for head coach Rick Younger. Leading the team to a 20-13 mark and an appearance in the NJCAA Region VI quarterfinals, Mayo averaged 1.85 kills and 0.41 blocks per set, 36 solo, while hitting at a .188 percent mark over 99 sets played. A graduate of Chaparral High School and a three-year player for head coach Megan Inslee, the 5-foot-11 outside hitter was named All-League in consecutive seasons while pacing the Roadrunners in digs, aces, block-assists and serve-receive percentage.

"While the bulk of Kinzee's experience is as a pin hitter, she is capable of playing all three front row positions effectively. Her versatility fits into the mold of players we like to bring into our program in that she has the potential to be a contributing player at multiple positions. I like the competitiveness she brings to the floor in her style of play. At the same time, she holds a lot of similar core values as a person and player that mirrors what we value in our program. While Kinzee had a very good freshman campaign, I anticipate her to reach even higher levels as a player due to the support and positive challenge her new teammates will provide her."

The Golden Eagles will open the 2017 campaign at the OKWU tournament on Aug. 25 against Lyon, scheduled for 11 a.m. JBU will take on the hosts, Sterling (Kan.) and Friends (Kan.) to complete the weekend.

Sports on 08/09/2017