ORANGE CITY, Iowa -- The John Brown University volleyball team held a brief lead over No. 18 Doane (Neb.) on Saturday, but the Tigers finished with three straight wins and the Golden Eagles fell in their second outing of the day in straight sets in the second day of the Red Raider Classic.
JBU (0-4) hit .300 (20-5-50) in the first set and used kills from freshman Carrie Ciesla and junior Jessica Meyer to take a 25-23 first-set win over the Tigers, but Doane roared back to win in four, capturing the final sets in 25-10, 25-23, 25-20 fashion. Later in the day, the Golden Eagles fell in three sets to Saint Mary (Neb.) to finish the tournament.
Senior Bayli Reagan led John Brown with 14 kills, hitting .300, and a trio of aces. Meyer contributed nine kills and three blocks while junior Elizabeth Williams and freshman Carrie Ciesla each distributed 19 assists in the loss. Freshman Jenna Lowery posted a match-best 22 digs.
In the third set, John Brown held a 22-18 advantage looking to pull ahead 2-1 in the contest, but Doane rattled off a game-winning 7-1 rally and took control of the match for good.
Allison Kuenle led Doane with 18 kills, 10 digs and four blocks. Alexis Dale chipped in with 11 terminations and four blocks in the win.
The last match of the weekend saw JBU and Saint Mary combine for 45 attacking errors in a battle of attrition. The Flames escaped with 25-13, 25-23, 25-19 set victories.
Lowery had another strong defensive outing, easily posting a game-best 21 digs. The Golden Eagles hit just below even in the contest (26-27-108).
"In our quest to become better and be able to compete and defeat elite level competition, we still have a bit of gap to close, but that gap isn't as far as it once was," head coach Ken Carver said. "We had moments throughout this tournament that we played and competed with some of the top teams in the NAIA. We came close to taking a set off of Northwestern and we really played very closely with Doane.
"We're young right now and the only way we're able to begin to overcome the youth factor is via experience. We can't substitute game experience and until we get enough of it under our belts, we'll have to deal with some of the things that come with having a younger team. This weekend our new players and even our veteran players were able to see and experience what high-level volleyball looks like and what we aspire to be ourselves."
JBU returns to action on Wednesday at Southwestern Christian (Okla.) in conference play. First serve is slated for 7 p.m.
Sports on 08/29/2018