OKLAHOMA CITY -- After a 13-year drought, the seventh-seeded John Brown University volleyball team captured a four-set victory (17-25, 25-20, 25-21, 25-19) at Abe Lemons Arena over two seed Oklahoma City in the Sooner Athletic tournament quarterfinals on Tuesday (Nov. 9) evening.
Sophomore Savanna Riney equaled her previous career high by terminating 19 attacks, and the Golden Eagles (16-17) featured a balanced offense that saw five attackers hit over .300 as John Brown broke a 14-match losing skid to the second-seeded Stars (18-10) in Oklahoma City.
John Brown now advances to the semifinals to face third-seeded Southwestern A.G. (Texas) on Friday (Nov. 12) evening at 6 p.m. back inside Abe Lemons Arena. The winner will advance to the finals to face the winner of top seed Texas Wesleyan and the four seed, Wayland Baptist (Texas).
If Texas Wesleyan handles the Pioneers in the 4 p.m. semifinal, the winner of the JBU-SAGU contest will by default earn the league's second autobid to the 42nd Annual NAIA National Championships. The Rams secured the SAC's first autobid by winning the regular season crown.
Jilly on the reception, Morgan to Taylor ...... FOR THE WIN!!! » John Brown VB breaks a 14-match losing skid inside Abe Lemons Arena, dating back to 2008. Golden Eagles advance to the semifinals on Friday evening!
Posted by John Brown University Athletics on Tuesday, November 9, 2021
Riney led the Golden Eagles by hitting .457 (19-3-35) on the evening, while freshman Delaney Barnes finished with 11 kills, hitting .393 (11-0-28). Freshman Taylor Golmen also contributed nine kills on 15 swings (.400) and freshman Callie Mullins completed seven kills on 14 attempts (.357). Freshman Micah Fouts added six terminations (.308).
JBU hit .290 (60-18-145) on the match, and kept the Stars to a managable .252 (53-17-143).
Junior Lauren Cloud earned a double-double, passing out 28 assists and accumulating 10 digs, while co-setter junior Morgan Fincham dished out the other 20 assists.
Junior Jillian Blackman's 26 digs led all players in the back row, while Golmen's trio of assisted blocks paced the front-line effort. Fouts and junior Ellie Lampton each contributed a pair of rejections.
After the host Stars captured the first set, a four-kill outburst from Riney turned a 7-7 score in the second set in favor of John Brown, 14-8. The Golden Eagle lead reached seven a few times, before Riney's kill ended a four-point spurt from the hosts.
With the match tied at one apiece, John Brown capitalized on early City hitting errors and built a quick 9-3 advantage. Four more Riney terminations fueled a mid-set 6-1 John Brown run that stretched the visitors lead to nine, 16-7, before consecutive kills from Fouts ballooned the margin to 10, 18-8. After city captured eight of the next 10 points and the pressure was on, Riney again ended the third set, halting a 4-1 Oklahoma City rally in its tracks.
Two Ellie Lampton kills and a Lampton-Golmen rejection continued the momentum into the fourth set, constructing a 7-2 lead. After a pair of Stars points, John Brown rattled off a 7-0 run as Riney posted another two important swats and assisted Golmen again on stuffing Catelyn Vargas. Up 10, 14-4, the Golden Eagles continued to trade points with its hosts at 21-11. Then JBU had to absorb a final OCU burst in the form of a 5-0 run as the second-seeded Stars saw an upset in the making. Kills from Golmen and Mullins stemmed the tide before Golmen smacked the match-clinching point from Fincham in the middle.
John Brown advances to the SAC semifinals for the fifth time in eight seasons under head coach Ken Carver, and eyes its first tournament title appearance since 2008.
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