SILOAM SPRINGS, Ark. -- In what could be described as nothing short of an epic, the John Brown University volleyball team had No. 23 Southwestern A.G. (Texas) on the ropes, but could not complete the upset as the visiting Lions took the last two sets to finish a 3-2 (25-18, 27-29, 25-23, 22-25, 15-17) comeback over JBU on Friday (Oct. 26) evening inside Bill George Arena.
Sophomore Taylor Glover terminated four chances in the final set and the Golden Eagles (13-13, 12-5 Sooner Athletic) actually hit marginally better than SAGU (.077-.000), but a pair of kills from Suzanny Figueiredo and another from Kali Shaw ended a furious comeback as JBU was at match point, 14-13. The Lions (24-2, 16-1) tallied four of the match's final five points to stay atop the Sooner Athletic standings.
Figueiredo paced all players with 19 kills and completed the double-double with 11 digs. Shaw contributed 15 kills and 12 digs to earn herself another double-double. Sophia Ivy passed out 44 assists on 50 SAGU kills while Madeleine Hartline posted six blocks in the win.
Both John Brown setters landed themselves double-doubles in the match that lasted over two hours. Freshman Carrie Ciesla passed out 20 assists and landed 10 scoops while junior Elizabeth Williams added 23 assists and 13 digs. Freshman Jenna Lowery patrolled the back line to the tune of 29 digs, a match-best.
A trio of John Brown attackers posted double-digit kills. Junior Jessica Meyer and junior Megan Beck each finished with 11 terminations apiece, including four and five rejections, respectively. Glover finished with 10 kills.
Both teams were highly successful setting the block as the visitors racked up nine team rejections and John Brown earned seven.
The hosts were on the brink of ending the match in four. An early 8-3 SAGU advantage evaporated as the teams were deadlocked at 19. The Lions earned two of the next three points by JBU errors and rode the momentum to a fifth set.
Down 23-22 in the third, a block from Beck and Meyer tied the score and a pair of SAGU errors gave JBU a 2-1 advantage.
Williams launched a match-high four aces, and Ciesla added two of her own as the hosts compiled nine aces in the match. However, it was neutralized by nine service errors.
The Golden Eagles return to Bill George Arena on Saturday (Oct. 27) afternoon to host Texas Wesleyan at 1 p.m.
