FT. WORTH, Texas -- A late rally in the third set was too little, too late as Texas Wesleyan (10-11, 2-1 SAC) allowed only one Golden Eagle to wander into double-digit kills en route to a 3-0 (13-25, 21-25, 23-25) defeat for John Brown tonight inside the Sid Richardson Center.
John Brown (7-13, 1-2 SAC) only managed a meager .142 hitting percentage on the evening as the offense was led by senior Erin McIlroy's 10 kills while sophomore Audrey Dearien chipped in with eight of her own.
TWU held the Golden Eagles to a .033 hitting percentage in the first set en route to a quick 25-13 win. Kills from Dearien and McIlroy helped John Brown to an early lead before both teams faced seven-consecutive ties, as the match was knotted at eight apiece. It was all Wesleyan from there, however, as a McIlroy kills stopped a 7-0 run by the hosts before the Lady Rams capped off 12-4 run that was assisted by three Golden Eagle errors. Another 5-1 run closed out the first game in favor of Wesleyan.
Back-to-back kills from McIlroy and a pair of Kailey Bain assists vaulted JBU out to a 2-0 lead in game two. A TWU error and a successful strike from freshman Molli Pugh pushed the visitors' lead to 6-3. More Golden Eagle miscues allowed Texas Wesleyan to climb back into the set, 10-10, ending a quick 7-4 run. The middle set featured six ties as neither team managed more than a two-point lead. A kill from sophomore Melissa Bakke handed JBU a 16-14 lead before it shifted back to the home team's side, 19-17. Deadlocked at 19, consecutive John Brown errors keyed the winning 5-1 run that Texas Wesleyan needed for a 25-21 win and a 2-0 lead in the match.
A pair of kills from junior Vanessa Uhrhahn kept the Golden Eagles alive in the beginning of the third game as the squads played to three ties ending up at seven apiece. A fourth tie was reached after a booming kill from Dearien followed by Tiffiny Hunnicutt's first spike of the match. John Brown landed its first lead since a 2-0 advantage when TWU committed two errors, pushing the score to 11-9. However, the Lady Rams benefited from JBU miscues once again as three Golden Eagles errors in addition to two Wesleyan aces allowed the hosts a small 5-0 run, extending its lead to 15-12. Down 23-18, the Golden Eagles made one last push behind strikes from McIlroy and Hunnicutt, cutting the deficit to 25-24. One last kill from the Lady Rams sealed the set, 25-23, a 3-0 sweep for Wesleyan.
McIlroy paced John Brown on the blocking, rejecting four TWU attempts while Dearien also posted a pair of her own. Pugh joined senior Staci Williamson in double-digit digs, finishing with 11 and 13, respectively. Bain notched a match-high 20 assists while freshman setting counterpart Shayna Daniels finished with 12 helpers on the evening.
The Lady Rams edged John Brown in attack percentage (.264-.142), assists (37-33) and service aces (8-3) while the Golden Eagles earned advantages in total blocks (6.0-3.0) and digs (50-45).
JBU will have a quick turnaround for its next match, as it faces Southwestern A.G. (Texas) (10-6, 3-1 SAC) in a 1:00 p.m. matchup in Waxahachie, Texas, on Saturday (Sept. 28).
