FT. WORTH -- Junior Savanna Riney smacked a match-high 16 kills and sophomore Lilly Ruston added five blocks, but the John Brown University volleyball team just couldn't close out the fourth set with a late lead, leading to a 3-1 setback (22-25, 25-20, 9-25, 23-25) at No. 25 Texas Wesleyan on Saturday afternoon (Oct. 1) inside the Sid Richardson Center.
Kills from freshman Ella Yarbrough, senior Ellie Lampton and Riney helped the visitors boast a commanding 19-14 lead with fifth-set redemption in sight. It wasn't mean to be, however, as the host Rams (15-3, 9-1 Sooner Athletic) rallied back on a 12-3 run to close out the match, sending the Golden Eagles (12-5, 7-3) to its second-straight loss in the Lone Star state.
Hitting .519 (16-2-27) in the third frame, the Rams rode 16 Kendal King kills to a match total of .253 (58-19-154), while the visitors finished at .182 (50-20-165) on the afternoon.
Junior Delaney Barnes had a bounce-back effort, finishing with 11 kills on 28 swings (.286) and added a pair of blocks.
In the front row on defense, Ruston's five blocks led all players, while Yarbrough posted three and Riney, Barnes, Fouts and Golmen each added a pair. In the back row, Riney's 15 scoops earned her another double-double, her 10th of the season, while sophomore Julie Milligan also added 15 in the back row.
Senior Lauren Cloud (22) and Morgan Fincham (18) combined for 40 assists.
Wesleyan's Carly Unruh hit .526 (11-1-19) and four of the Rams' top five hitters hit over .300 on the afternoon. Ruby O'Brien passed out 36 assists, and Unruh and Sydney Alexander each boasted five block-assists. Andrea Malek led all players in the back row with 38 digs in TXWES' bounce-back win after suffering its first Sooner Athletic loss of the season to Southwestern A.G. (Texas) earlier in the week.
With the toughest road trip of the conference slate in the rear-view mirror and the first half of the double round-robin complete, John Brown sits in third place, three games behind conference leader SAGU, and two games behind Texas Wesleyan.
John Brown will now return home to begin a two-match home streak, slated to begin on Wednesday evening (Oct. 5) when the Golden Eagles host Southwestern Christian (Okla.) at 7 p.m. Two days later as part of Homecoming Weekend, JBU will face rival Oklahoma City inside Bill George Arena on Friday evening, also at 7 p.m. Both contests are slated to air live on the SAC Sports Network.
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