BARTLESVILLE, Okla. -- The John Brown University volleyball team grabbed a pair of victories, sweeping past fellow Arkansas college Lyon and surviving tournament host Oklahoma Wesleyan on Friday on day one of the OKWU Invitational.
The tournament continued on Saturday with JBU playing Kansas schools Sterling and Friends. Complete results were not available at presstime.
A balanced offensive attack against the Scots (0-1) was paced by sophomore Carly McKinney's nine kills and was followed up by junior Bayli Reagan's six kills and nine digs, alongside five kills apiece from senior Bailei Brown and sophomore Jessica Meyer. Senior Alyssa Arnold and sophomore Elizabeth Williams each dished out 13 assists, while senior Beth Brankle's match-best 15 digs helped the Golden Eagles capture 25-20, 25-21, 25-19 set scores.
"It was good to finally have the opportunity to get on the court and play someone other than ourselves and see where we stand to start the season," head coach Ken Carver said. "It was good to get a quality win to start the season and erase some bad memories from the last time we played them. We showed a number of good things as well as some things we'll need to work on.
"While it took until the third set to start seeing some aces from the service line, I felt we were able to serve deep consistently and force Lyon out of system and not allow them to utilize their middle hitters all that much. Our serve-receive was spotty at times, but our players showed good poise during the times we struggled and made the necessary corrections. We, once again, have the potential to be a very balanced team offensively."
Down 18-15 in the first set, Brown's kill jump-started a 9-0 rally that was finished by an Arnold service ace to clinch the set. Down to the wire in the second set, blocks from Meyer and McKinney, followed later by set-winning termination from Meyer pushed the Golden Eagles to a 2-0 lead.
A 6-1 run midway through the third set all but clinched the match for JBU, but the Scots responded with five of seven points to pull within 24-19. It was too late, however, as a service error ended Lyon's bid at a comeback.
The Golden Eagles hit at a .237 percentage on the match, but held Lyon to a mere .131 hitting percentage as the Scots committed 20 attacking errors on the match.
Later in the afternoon, John Brown hit the court for its second matchup, this time with host Oklahoma Wesleyan.
In a see-saw affair, JBU rode 11 kills from Meyer and McKinney while Arnold posted 23 assists and sophomore Lindsey Davis added six blocks in the five-set win. Sophomore Megan Beck added eight terminations in the victory.
"This afternoon's match was a really good character-building opportunity for our team," added Carver. "OKWU is very similar to us, trying to serve aggressively and run a quick, up-tempo offense. Compared to the match we were able to scout them beforehand, they definitely elevated their game against us in a rowdy gym in front of their home fans.
"The first set kind of caught us on our heels a bit, but rather than be discouraged, our team came out really strong in the second set and took an early lead and didn't look back. Our offense was very efficient and our blocking picked up as well. We carried that momentum in the third set and played really steady volleyball."
After OKWU took the first 25-23, the Golden Eagles roared back with a 25-13 thumping to even the score. Another 25-16 win positioned JBU to finish the match off in four, but the hosts responded with a 25-14 decision to setup a fifth and final set.
The shortened fifth frame went back and forth, but junior Bailey Sager was able to make two crucial serves as Brown posted a kill and OKWU finished the match with an attacking error.
JBU finished the match with three consecutive points, breaking a 12-all deadlock.
"Being 2-0 after the first day of the tournament is something to feel really good about," Carver said.
Sports on 08/27/2017