Another sweep
JBU volleyball cruises by Central Christian.
Freshman Delaney Barnes and Savanna Riney each contributed 10 kills and the Golden Eagles never trailed as the John Brown University volleyball team cemented its third-straight sweep (25-20, 25-15, 25-16), this time over Central Christian (Kan.) on Saturday afternoon inside Bill George Arena.
While both teams hit efficiently on the afternoon, the Golden Eagles (8-2, 6-2 Sooner Athletic) remained undefeated at home by hitting .327 (47-11110) — their highest margin of the season.
JBU also proved deadly from the service line, launching 13 aces, its second-highest output on the season. Riney, sophomore Morgan Fincham and sophomore Jillian Blackman each posted three aces.
I couldn’t be more proud of our focus and effort during this stretch of time as there were many challenges — lots of miles on the road, back-to-back matches twice and multiple lineup changes. To finish this stretch with only one loss, I couldn’t be happier for our team.”
— Ken Carver, John Brown Unversity volleyball team head
coach
“Today brought to an end a very full seven to 10 days worth of matches and travel for our team,” said head coach Ken Carver. “I couldn’t be more proud of our focus and effort during this stretch of time as there were many challenges — lots of miles on the road, back-to-back matches twice and multiple lineup changes. To finish this stretch with only one loss, I couldn’t be happier for our team.
“I felt Central Christian played their best match of the season against us this afternoon. While we talked about having to be ready for all kinds of shots and tempos, more balls found the floor for them than I would have anticipated. Beyond that, I was really pleased with our execution — our aggressive serving eventually paid big dividends in the second and third sets.”
Barnes, naturally a middle, played at the pin and delivered her third double-digit kill effort of the season, hitting .409 (10-122) while flashing her versatility. For the sixth-straight match, Riney posted double-figure terminations and hit .471 (10-2-17) on the afternoon. Senior Jaden Williams also hit .412 (9-2-17) and contributed nine kills.
Barnes also anchored the front-row defensive effort, posting a trio of block-assists, while counterpart freshman Micah Fouts delivered three blockassists of her own to accompany a solo block. In the back row, sophomore Jillian Blackman did what she could – posting 15 digs as John Brown kept the visiting Tigers (2-20, 0-8) to just 93 attack attempts — the secondfewest the Golden Eagles have seen this season.
Sophomores Morgan Fincham and Lauren Cloud ran the offense proficiently — as the duo combined for 38 assists, 19 apiece, on John Brown’s 47 terminations (.809).
John Brown is scheduled to return to action at 6 p.m. Wednesday at Philander Smith in Little Rock.