JBU falls in four sets at Texas Wesleyan

FORT WORTH, Texas — Texas Wesleyan, the 2021 Sooner Athletic Conference regular season champs, beat the John Brown University volleyball team in four sets (25-13, 25-13, 15-25, 25-21) Saturday at the Sid Richardson Center.

After hitting .556 (16-127) in the first set, the Rams (23-5, 18-2 Sooner Athletic) slowly cooled off, but finished the afternoon at a .313 clip (56-16-128), while the Golden Eagles (15-17, 9-11) responded with a .182 efficiency (45-18-148). JBU did hit .333 in the third set, a 25-15 win.

Sophomore Savanna Riney smacked 10 kills and added a pair of blocks, while freshman Taylor Golmen finished at .292, producing nine kills a three blockassists. Freshman Delany Barnes also hit .259 (8-1-27) on the afternoon.

The Rams outpaced John Brown in kills (56-45), aces (6-5), total blocks (9-3) and digs (80-51).

Junior Morgan Fincham passed out 22 assists for the John Brown offense. Junior Jillian Blackman just missed her 13th 20-dig performance of the season with 19 scoops in the back row.

Bailey Foy was nearly unstoppable for Texas Wesleyan, hitting .640 while swatting down 17 terminations on 25 swings. She also threw up five blocks.

Nyia Anderson and Sydney Charlton each got 10 kills, while Morgan Burns dished out 47 assists on 56 Wesleyan kills. Three Rams neared the 20-dig mark, led by Skylar Warde’s 18.

The Golden Eagles were scheduled to play at Oklahoma City on Tuesday in the quarterfinals of the Sooner Athletic Conference Tournament. Results were not available at presstime. The winner advanced to the semifinals on Friday, which also is at Oklahoma City.