Season begins
JBU volleyball opens 2019 slate
The John Brown volleyball team isn’t wasting any time to start the 2019 season.
The Golden Eagles kick off their campaign today, Aug. 14, in the Hope International (Calif.) Summer Slam held in Fullerton, Calif., and sixth-year coach Ken Carver hopes that playing tough competition early on will set the tone for the rest of the season.
“We want to develop some early season momentum and hopefully that will put us in the driver’s seat heading into conference play,” Carver said. “Our first four home conference games are against the top four teams in the league. We need to play at a higher level early to be ready to compete against those teams right out the gate.”
John Brown opens the season with Montana Tech at noon today and then will play The Master’s (Calif.) at 6 p.m. The Summer Slam continues on Thursday with Evergreen State at 10 a.m. and California-Merced at 4 p.m.
JBU will play in another tournament — the KCAC (Kansas Collegiate Athletic Conference) Fall Fling in Hutchinson, Kan. — on Aug. 23-24 before returning home for four straight home games to open Sooner Athletic
Conference play against Oklahoma City on Sept. 6, Southwestern Christian on Sept. 7, Southwestern Assemblies of God on Sept. 13 and Texas Wesleyan on Sept. 14.
Southwestern Assemblies of God was picked to win the league, while Oklahoma City and Texas Wesleyan were tied for second with John Brown predicted to finish fourth after going 16-15 overall and 14-6 in league play in 2018.
“We do feel like we should be in the mix again,” Carver said.
The Golden Eagles return a nice mix of veteran players along with newcomers, but the biggest addition for the team may be the return of 6-0 senior outside hitter Carly McKinney, who missed all of the 2018 season with an injury.
As a sophomore, McKinney led the Golden Eagles with 359 kills and was a second team All-SAC selection in 2017.
“Carly McKinney is back and she’s strong and ready to go,” Carver said. “She’s ready to come back and be a major force for us. I think she’ll be a big piece overall to our team’s success.”
In McKinney’s absence last season, Taylor Glover and Bayli Reagan combined for 424 kills for JBU. Reagan graduated but the 5-11 Glover is back for her junior season and is expected to have a role at outside hitter.
“I think she’s really come on with the development as I would have hoped,” Carver said of Glover. “She’s a much more savvy and aggressive hitter than she was as a freshman or sophomore. She had a phenomenal offseason. She’s really ready go too and shoulder that load and be a lot more dominating force for a junior.”
Incoming freshman Sarah Laaker, of Fenton, Mo., and Siloam Springs native Ellie Lampton are also getting looks at outside hitter as well as opposite side, Carver said.
Laaker (6-0) played a high-level of volleyball in the St. Louis area in high school and club, while Lampton (5-10) was a standout for the local Siloam Springs and Ozark Juniors team and had more than 1,000 kills in her high school career.
In the middle, JBU returns senior Jessica (Meyer) Schultz (5-11), who was the SAC Hitter of the Year as a sophomore in 2017 and was a All-SAC First Team selection in 2018 with 239 kills and 87 total blocks.
Also returning in the middle is Lindsey (Davis) Clark (6-0), who had 145 kills and 60 blocks as a junior in 2019 and earned All-SAC Honorable Mention honors.
“Jess and Lindsey are definitely dynamic and impactful in separate ways,” Carver said. “With Jess, we’re wowed by her athleticism and we want to run our offense as fast as we can with her. She’s that prototypical explosive middle blocker.
“Lindsey is not as dynamic but she is just really, really cagey with her shots. She does a good job of seeing the block and changing how she contacts the ball and hitting around the block.”
Junior Jaden Williams (510) of Springdale Har-Ber also is in the mix at middle blocker and has worked really hard in the offseason, Carver said.
“It’s exciting that we could potentially use a three-middle system and not miss a beat,” he said.
At opposite side hitter, the Golden Eagles return seniors Megan Beck (5-9) and Kinzee Mayo (5-11), who combined for 327 kills in 2018.
Beck, an All-SAC Honorable Mention selection, has been a starter the majority of her career.
“Megan has been a consistent, steady force there and had just continued to develop as a player and be more involved in our offense,” Carver said.
Mayo, meanwhile brings a bit of versatility as she can play any of the front row hitting positions.
“She’s really a versatile kid and can help in a lot of different ways,” Carver said.
Sophomore Carrie Ciesla (5-7) of Greenwood was one of two setters in the Golden Eagles’ 6-2 offense in 2018 along with the graduated Elizabeth Williams. Now Ciesla, who had 357 assists, is the veteran at the position as JBU has welcomed two freshman setters in Morgan Fincham (5-6) of Lake Hamilton and Lauren Cloud (5-5) of Springdale Har-Ber.
“Carrie has come in and she has that next level of confidence as a sophomore,” Carver said. “She did a good job as a freshman and worked hard in the offseason. It’s exciting to see that she’s setting a quicker ball and serving more aggressively. She’s everything you hope for with a kid moving from a freshman to a sophomore.”
The two freshmen are competing for the second setter spot.
Sophomore Jenna Lowery (5-1) was the 2018 SAC Freshman of the Year after leading JBU with 545 defensive digs.
“Jenna has a great read of the game and anticipates really well defensively,” Carver said.
Lowery is a candidate to man the defensive libero spot along with freshman Jillian Blackmon (5-3) of Stilwell, Kan., who has been impressive during pre-season practices.
Sophomore Elizabeth Parrish (5-6) also is back as a defensive specialist after recording 161 digs last year.
“That’s probably been one of the hotter contested spots this past week in training,” Carver said. “It’s been really cool to see how the three of them worked on and competed against each other regarding that.”