DES MOINES, Iowa -- The John Brown University volleyball team improved to 19-5 on the season with a pair of wins on Saturday (Oct. 12) inside the Johnson Wellness Center, including a four-set triumph (22-11, 24-26, 25-20, 25-9) over Huntington (Ind.) and another sweep (25-18, 25-18, 25-22) over William Penn (Iowa).
"Playing six matches in five days in the middle of our season was a good test for our team," head coach Ken Carver noted. "During the course of the entire tournament we experienced a little bit of everything. For all of the miles we covered this week and the amount of physical, mental and emotional energy our team expended during the course of play, I'm extremely proud of how they met this challenge and put together another winning week."
Seniors Jessica Schultz and Megan Beck carried the majority of the offensive load in John Brown' first contest against the Foresters, boasting 12 and 11 kills, respectively, while junior Taylor Glover added another 11 of her own. The JBU offense rolled, hitting .336 (58-11-140), while Huntington struggled to eclipse the even mark (.000) twice in the four sets.
The Golden Eagles served up its second-highest ace total of the season (12), led by a career-best five from freshman Lauren Cloud. Sophomore Jenna Lowery and freshman Jillian Blackman each added a pair.
Sophomore Carrie Ciesla and freshman Morgan Fincham passed out 23 and 17 helpers, respectively, while Blackman posted a game-high 13 scoops in the four-set victory.
In the second match of the day, JBU held the Statesmen offense in check all afternoon, allowing William Penn a mere .020 (27-25-99) clip in the quick 45-minute match. The Golden Eagles improved to 14-3 on the season in three-set matches.
Schultz again paced the John Brown offense with 10 kills, but also added seven block-assists in a stellar defensive effort.
The Golden Eagle serving effort again yielded 10 aces, this time paced by Blackman's quartet of aces.
"We had a lot of very good performances from our team throughout the tournament," added Carver. "Taylor was an offensive force all tournament and did a great job of mixing up her shots. Jessica continued her stellar play in the middle, in spite of having to face consistent double blocks. While not getting set nearly as much as her teammates, Jaden led our team in attack efficiency and took a lot of smart swings this weekend.
"In her first weekend in playing as our libero, Jillian did an excellent job of elevating her back-row defense, serve-receive consistency and serving effectiveness. Carly did an excellent job alongside Jenna with her serve reception and back-row defense as well. Lauren served with laser-like focus for the majority of the tournament as well and while she was our team leader in service aces, she was a major factor in forcing our opponents out of system due to her serving. Carrie and Morgan continued to be a very effective setting tandem in spreading out our offense and setting our hitters with the tempo and location consistency we needed to terminate a lot of balls."
Up Next
It's Sooner Athletic play here on out for John Brown as the Golden Eagles hit the road again for a pair of big-time matchups in East Texas. JBU will take on Texas Wesleyan and Southwestern A.G. (Texas) on Friday (Oct. 18) and Saturday as the pair of matches will go a long way in establishing the final seeding for the SAC tournament in mid-November.
