SILOAM SPRINGS -- For just the second time in program history, the John Brown University volleyball team swept past Oklahoma City (25-17, 25-15, 25-22) on Friday evening (Oct. 7) inside Bill George Arena to maintain its undefeated mark in its home venue.
It had been 34 matches (5,112 days) since the Golden Eagles (14-5, 9-3 Sooner Athletic) dispatched the Stars in three sets, not accomplished in nearly 14 years to the day when JBU bested City in three on Oct. 9, 2008 inside Murray Sells Gymnasium.
Beyond improving to 6-0 inside the friendly confines of BGA, with the win, John Brown created some cushion between themselves and the battle for fourth place between Oklahoma City and Mid-America Christian. Additionally, the Golden Eagles avenged an earlier sweep at Abe Lemons Arena to split the season series with the Stars (9-10, 7-5).
Honoring three seniors and their milestone achievements tonight!! 🤩 Be there tonight as #goJBU VB takes on rival Oklahoma City at 7 p.m. inside Bill George Arena.
Posted by John Brown University Athletics on Friday, October 7, 2022
The win didn't come easy, however, as the match was peppered with 17 ties, but just six lead changes – 14 of the ties occurring in the first and third sets. The third set was particularly dramatic after the visitors pulled ahead 6-1 determined to avoid the sweep. Two Savanna Riney kills helped cap off a 6-0 Golden Eagle run to tie the set at eight apiece. Six times the visiting Stars would take the lead, as many as four, only for JBU to rally back.
With the set knotted at 21 each, after John Brown clawed back seven times that frame, senior Morgan Fincham finished off a two-touch attack, and freshman Ella Yarborough added her fourth termination of the set followed up the play with an ace to hand the hosts a one-point lead. A timely kill from sophomore Taylor Golmen and a pair of City attack errors setup Riney for the match-clinching kill in dramatic fashion.
"I'm extremely proud of our team's focus and execution this evening, as we were on point from the very beginning and played a consistent match," head coach Ken Carver pointed out. "Our serving was instrumental in our success this evening – we did an excellent job in serving space and keeping OCU's serve-receive offense out of system for the majority of the match.
"This was priority one for us as they have two middle hitters who are very effective as attackers and are hard to stop when they are in rhythm. Those two players were still able to get some kills, but they were not nearly as prominent in their offensive production as they were the last time against us."
Riney capped off her third-consecutive double-double with a team-leading 11 kills and 12 digs. She finished the night hitting .250, eclipsed only by Golmen – who posted a fantastic 10 terminations on 20 swings, making just one hitting error (.450), while adding three block-assists.
Fincham (19) and senior Lauren Cloud (16) directed the JBU offense to hit above its season average at .223 (43-16-121), while the Stars were limited to well under its usual attack, ending the evening at just .084 (28-19-107) – its fourth-lowest effort of the season.
Senior Jillian Blackman covered the back row to the tune of 15 digs, and she added five assists and one service ace.
Carver added, "Wins against OCU have been far and few between for our program during my tenure as the head coach, so I'm extremely happy for our players that their efforts earned them an important conference victory this evening."
The Golden Eagles now return to being road warriors as it embarks on a two-match trip west, starting with a contest at Central Christian (Kan.) on Tuesday night (Oct. 11) before facing Langston (Okla.) the following evening. JBU then returns home the following week for three home matches in four nights.
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