Golden Eagles go 3-1 in volleyball tourney
POINT LOOKOUT, Mo. — The John Brown University volleyball team made quick work of HannibalLaGrange (Mo.) and Johnson & Wales (Colo.), recording a sweep over both opponents, and the Golden Eagles escaped the annual College of the Ozarks (Mo.) Invitational with a 3-1 record, its best mark since the 2009 season, last Saturday afternoon at the Keeter Gymnasium.
In its first matchup with the Trojans (3-13) at 9 a.m., JBU hit at a .275 percentage (44-16-102) and limited HLGU to a reeling .000 (1515-94), led by sophomore Carly McKinney’s eight kills, 17 digs and pair of blocks. Sophomore Jessica Meyer again hit over .600, terminating 10 and adding a three blocks.
Senior Alyssa Arnold kept the 5-1 offense churning to the tune of 38 assists and contributed 13 digs, assisting senior Beth Brankle’s 11 digs on the back line.
In the 25-18, 25-8, 25-18 sweep, the Golden Eagles let Hannibal-LaGrange hit a mere minus .107 (2-5-28) to run away with the set and place the matchup out of reach.
After a few hours break, JBU took on Johnson & Wales (2-18) in the final outing of the six-match week. While the opponents battled to hit just .096 (2718-94), this time it was due to the outstanding block effort of the Golden Eagles, which racked up 14 on the match, paced by four from Meyer and three from sophomore Lindsey Davis.
Meyer again hit at an outstanding clip and buried eight kills while junior Bayli Reagan emerged to offer 12 kills and a pair of service aces, two of JBU’s 14 on the match. Sophomores Bailey Sager and Elizabeth Bjornsen served up three aces apiece while Brankle led the Golden Eagles with four.
JBU took care of the Wildcats with relative ease, recording set wins of 25-18, 25-19, 25-15. John Brown attacked at a .239 clip (3614-92) and got stronger as the match wore on and the Wildcats struggled to keep up with the JBU depth.
JBU will now rest and return to a relatively normal schedule next week with a trip to the Lone Star State. The Golden Eagles face Southwestern Assemblies of God (Texas) on Friday evening before taking on Texas Wesleyan in Fort Worth at 1 p.m. Saturday.