JBU volleyball takes two on the road
McPHERSON, Kan. — After a tough setback to Oklahoma City on Friday, the John Brown University volleyball team bounced back into the win column with a 2-0 day in trimatch action, sweeping past Central Christian in conference play and taking a five-set win over McPherson (Kan.) on Saturday afternoon at the Ed Pyle Sports Complex.
The Golden Eagles (226, 11-3 Sooner Athletic) did not attack particularly well against the Tigers (6-18, 2-13) in the first match of the day, hitting just .175 (42-21-120), but the defense stepped up and forced the hosts into a -.036 effort (18-22-110), as JBU swept with scores of 25-20, 25-8, 25-13.
Sophomore Jessica Meyer led all players with 12 kills and added six blocks in the victory while sophomore Carly McKinney posted a double-double, terminating 10 while picking up 11 digs and notching a pair of rejections and four service aces.
“Today was a tale of two vastly different opponents and how our team was able to come away with victories in both matches,” head coach Ken Carver said. “Central Christian was much improved from the first time we played them over a month ago and were very scrappy on defense in the first set and a half.
“While our team was a little slow starting due to the late night and travel, we were able to settle in and play our tempo of volleyball midway through the first set onward. We had a decent night offensively with our typical even distribution of offense, but what I was really proud of was our defensive effort as we averaged almost 20 digs and over two blocks per set, which are both above our season averages.”
Sophomore Lindsey Davis contributed eight kills and hit .316 (8-2-19) on the evening.
Senior Beth Brankle posted 21 scoops while senior Alyssa Arnold dished out 35 assists on 42 JBU terminations.
With little time to rest, the Golden Eagles took on McPherson shortly after the conclusion of the first match and ran into a gauntlet as the first two sets featured extra volleyball.
“McPherson was very athletic and had a very balanced attack and offensive tempo which closely mirrored us,” Carver said. “As the scores of all the sets, with the exception of the fourth, would indicate, this was a tightly contested match. The offensive players on both sides of the net were swinging aggressively and both side were playing some tremendous defense which made for a lot of long rallies.
“Once again, our defensive effort came up really big with players doing a fantastic job of reading and anticipating their attacks and making a lot of great hustle plays. Another thing that really helped our team against McPherson, which was missing against our match versus OCU, was the passion, enthusiasm and tenacity as we played.
“We played with joy and gratitude of being on the court together and an opportunity to grow and learn instead of focusing on outcome-based goals.”
Meyer paced JBU with 14 kills while McKinney added 13, as did Davis. Sophomore Megan Beck (11) and junior Bayli Reagan also posted doubledigit terminations as the Golden Eagles hit just .100 (65-40-251) on the match, easily setting a seasonhigh in total attacks in a single match.
Davis hit an impressive .306 (13-2-36) while Brankle picked up 35 digs, second-most for her this season.
Arnold racked up 57 assists on 65 JBU kills, setting a new single-match career assist mark.
The Golden Eagles featured 28 blocks in the match, also a singlematch high, as Meyer led the way with 10 blocks, a career-best. McKinney, Beck and Davis each contributed five rejections in the victory.
The Golden Eagles returned to action Tuesday against St. Gregory’s. Results were not available at presstime. JBU will host Southwestern Christian (Okla.) on Thursday before starting the Sooner Athletic tournament on Tuesday (Nov. 7) at home in the quarterfinal round.