CHICKASHA, Okla. -- The John Brown University volleyball team posted its 17th sweep of the season, and with it, clinched a Sooner Athletic tournament quarterfinal home date at Bill George Arena with a quick 3-0 (25-20, 25-11, 25-8) victory over Science & Arts (Okla.) on Saturday (Nov. 2) afternoon inside the Drover Fieldhouse.
Senior Carly McKinney's nine terminations and three service aces highlighted a Golden Eagle (23-7, 14-4 Sooner Athletic) effort that ensured JBU host a lower-seeded team next Tuesday (Nov. 12) night. The winners of the four quarterfinal matches at higher seeds will move on to Oklahoma City's Abe Lemons Arena to determine a tournament champion and the conference's second automatic berth later that weekend.
Junior Taylor Glover hit .462 (7-1-13) and senior Lindsey Clark added a .800 (4-0-5) effort as John Brown hit .276 (35-14-76) on the match. The visitors boasted 12 service aces - marking the sixth time this season in double-digit ace territory.
"We started out slow, but we eventually settled into our rhythm and hit our stride in the second and third sets," head coach Ken Carver noted. "We'll need to continue to work on coming out more focused to start matches, but overall, I was pleased with our team's effort as we closed out our last regular season road trip.
"We were very aggressive and effective from the service line this afternoon which allowed us to disrupt USAO's offense. Taylor and Carly had solid matches offensively and Lindsey had another match where she was very efficient on the small number of swings she took this afternoon. Carrie was pressing early and missing her set location and tempo, but improved as the match went on to lead our team's offense on the afternoon. We're looking forward to finishing up the regular season at home next weekend and honoring our group of senior players on Friday night."
Sophomore Carrie Ciesla passed out 19 of the squad's 33 assists and added a pair of service aces.
In the back row, sophomore Jenna Lowery scooped up a team-best 13 digs, while freshman counterpart Jillian Blackman added eight digs to her trio of aces.
Up Next
John Brown will return to Siloam Springs to wrap up the regular season with a a two-match home stretch against Central Christian (Kan.) and Langston (Okla.). A pair of wins will wrap up at least a third-place finish, John Brown's highest finish since 2006 - when it captured the SAC regular season title with a perfect 10-0 league record.
