OKLAHOMA CITY -- The John Brown University volleyball team fell in four sets (23-25, 25-20, 21-25, 19-25) on Wednesday (Sept. 1) night at Mid-America Christian (Okla.) inside the Gaulke Activity Center to split its two matches on the week in Oklahoma City.
The Golden Eagles' (4-6, 1-1 Sooner Athletic) saw its 15-match winning streak against the Evangels snapped, largely in part to a pair of late-set surges in the first and third frames that allowed MACU (4-3, 2-0) the momentum it needed to capture the contest in four. The Evangels' last win versus JBU came back on Oct. 4, 2012 inside the Gaulke Activity Center.
A Micah Fouts termination handed the visitors a 22-19 advantage in the first, but MACU closed out the set on a 6-1 run. With a 20-16 lead in the second and the hosts charging back, three consecutive MACU errors widened John Brown's lead to seven, 23-16, until a Delaney Barnes kill ended the set and knotted the match at one apiece.
Mid-America Christian rumbled out to a 9-4 lead in the third, but after a timeout, the Golden Eagles responded. A Savanna Riney kill followed by a Lauren Cloud ace began a 6-2 John Brown run that pulled the visitors back within one, 21-20. Consecutive rejections by the Evangels and a pair of Hannah Foecker kills ended the JBU comeback attempt, and setup a fourth-set matchup with the home team in the advantage.
Despite an early 5-2 lead, the offense faded for the Golden Eagles as an 8-2 Mid-America Christian run in the middle of the set turned a one-point contest into a five-point lead, 18-13. After take four of the next five points, JBU could only get to within five, three times, before MACU ended the match on another Foecker termination.
Riney registered 12 kills on 39 swings to lead the John Brown offense. Freshman Taylor Golmen contributed a career-best nine terminations and hit .304 (9-2-23) while posting a career-high seven block-assists.
Junior Lauren Cloud posted another double-double, passing out 22 assists and earning 13 digs. She continued her strong service performance on the week with another four aces from the line. Junior Jillian Blackman led the way on the back line with 22 digs.
The Evangels out-hit John Brown .159 (51-25-164) to .118 (45-25-169). After hitting over .200 in the first two sets, the Golden Eagles were relegated to .011 (19-18-91) through the final two frames of the match.
"Tonight's match was one that boiled down to clean play and momentum," head coach Ken Carver pointed out. "MACU came out ready to play tonight, and after they came back to win the first set, that stoked their confidence even more. Our team responded well by winning the second set, but after that, we played far too sloppy and inconsistent to be in position to win the match.
"We committed far too many errors from the service line and attacking in the third set where MACU didn't have to earn most of their points. In spite of the loss, I was proud of how our team kept fighting to get back into the match, despite coming up short. With our upcoming open weekend, we'll look to get some rest, regroup and look forward to finally playing at home after three straight weeks on the road to open the season."
John Brown opens the home portion of the 2021 schedule on Wednesday (Sept. 7) when Southwestern Christian (Okla.) travels to Bill George Arena. First serve is slated for 7 p.m. on the SAC Sports Network.
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