SILOAM SPRINGS, Ark. -- Despite not finishing with a single player in double-digit kills, the Golden Eagles pieced together its strongest hitting performance of the season as John Brown bounced St. Gregory's (Okla.) in a 3-0 (25-12, 25-8, 25-19) sweep this afternoon in Bill George Arena.
JBU turned in a hitting percentage of .367 percent, a season-high in 2013, behind strong attacking performances from junior Courtney Marshall, sophomores Melissa Bakke and Audrey Dearien and freshman Molli Pugh. The quartet combined for a .424 hitting percentage as Marshall paced the Golden Eagles offense with nine kills on the afternoon.
"We executed our transition offense well today," head coach Stacie Johnson said after the match. "We limited our errors, which usually means good things for us."
Both teams were knotted early in the first set until kills from Marshall, Dearien and Becca Young powered JBU to a 9-6 lead. Three more successful attacks pushed the John Brown lead to five, 14-9. Pugh then asserted her will in the latter parts of the frame as the freshman's three kills opened an 18-10 host advantage, to which the Cavaliers had no response. Three errors by SGU coupled with a pair of attacks from senior Erin McIlroy and Bakke closed out the first game, 25-12.
John Brown had its best individual hitting game of the season, closing the first set with a .455 percent hitting rate.
The second game was all John Brown as nine Cavalier errors made things easy for the Golden Eagles. After the score was 1-1, a McIlroy kill keyed an 8-0 run for JBU, as the hosts took a commanding 9-1 lead. Three more St. Gregory's errors fueled another John Brown run, this time of the 7-0 variety, allowing the hosts to maintain a 17-3 advantage. Another three consecutive Cavalier miscues handed the second set to John Brown, 25-8.
JBU earned yet another run to open the third set, quickly placing SGU out of contention. Seven consecutive serves from Dearien proved to be successful as the sophomore landed three aces over that stretch, accompanied by kills McIlroy and Pugh, to forge a 9-2 lead. Three consecutive Bakke kills later furthered the lead to eight, 17-9, before a small 5-3 push-back from the Cavaliers returned the score to a reasonable 20-14 lead for John Brown. A pair of kills from Marshall and Bakke paced the Golden Eagles to one point shy of a match victory, but the visitors showed courage, netting five consecutive points before a Marshall kill ended the set and the match, 25-19.
Both Golden Eagle setters neared 20 helpers as freshman Shayna Daniels dished out 19 assists while senior Kailey Bain setup 18 John Brown kills. As usual, senior Staci Williamson paced the Golden Eagle defense as she finished with a team-high 14 digs. Blasingame, McIlroy and Pugh each notched a solo block as Pugh, Uhrhahan and Bakke each assisted on a pair of blocks.
John Brown dominated most statistical categories on the afternoon, most notably edging the visitors in hitting percentage (.367-.075), assists (38-24), kills (42-27) and total blocks (8-2).
The Golden Eagles will return to the court quickly, when it faces Ozarks (Mo.) for the third time this season. The Bobcats (10-8) have already defeated JBU twice this season, once in a five-set thriller and another in a sweeping fashion, as John Brown will look to defeat Ozarks for the first time this season. The match is slated for Monday (Sept. 23) at 7:00 p.m. in Bill George Arena.
