PARKVILLE, Mo. -- The Golden Eagles hit nearly .300 in all three sets and rode a balanced offense that featured four players with at least five kills in a quick sweep (25-21, 25-15, 25-16) of Oklahoma Wesleyan on Friday (Sept. 10) afternoon inside the Breckon Sports Center.
Junior Lauren Cloud served up for aces and added 13 assists on John Brown's 38 terminations in the contest. The Golden Eagles finished the match hitting .326 (38-8-92), a season best mark after a tough loss to No. 19 Oklahoma City just 48 hours prior.
Sophomore Savanna Riney's seven kills led the JBU offense (6-7), while junior Ellie Lampton, sophomore Micah Fouts and freshman Callie Mullins each contributed six terminations. Lampton, Mullins and Fouts combined to hit .500 (18-0-36) and didn't commit a hitting error as the Golden Eagles won its 21st consecutive contest versus Oklahoma Wesleyan (1-4).
"I was proud of our team's ability to bounce back on the court this afternoon," head coach Ken Carver noted. "The focus of today's match was efficiency, in order to minimize the amount of energy we expended on the court today – to that end, I feel we accomplished our goals by winning in straight sets and with healthy point margins in the second and third.
"Our offense was very efficient and our hitters did a good job of terminating shots for points. We did a better job this afternoon from the service line, and defensively, we did a good job of reading and reacting to Oklahoma Wesleyan's attackers. Our serving kept them primarily out of system for the majority of the match, which help eliminate their middles which are pretty good in their own right."
Behind five team blocks, junior Jillian Blackman scooped up 10 OKWU attacks to lead the back line effort. Four players boasted two block-assists as the Golden Eagles earned advantages in hitting (.326-.161), kills (38-31), aces (7-4) and assists (32-28).
The Wesleyan offense finished the afternoon hitting just .161 (31-16-93), but did get a match-best 14 kills from Lauren McKinney. Bobana Marusic added 17 digs in the loss for the Eagles.
The Golden Eagles will return to the Breckon Sports Center tomorrow afternoon for a pair of tilts, first with Brecia (Ky.) before taking on No. 4 Park (Mo.), this weekend's host. First serves are slated for 10 a.m. and 4 p.m., with the matches airing live on the Heart of America Conference Network.
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