SILOAM SPRINGS -- The John Brown University volleyball team offense was clicking on all cylinders as the Golden Eagles handed Central Christian (Kan.) a sweeping loss on Wednesday night (Sept. 7) inside Bill George Arena.
JBU led wire-to-wire in sets two and three, and finished the evening hitting .410 (40-8-71). Three Golden Eagle hitters handed in efforts over .500 and four over .400, led by senior Ellie Lampton's errorless mark at .727 (8-0-11).
Junior Savanna Riney once again led John Brown with 10 kills on 17 swings (.529), and junior Delaney Barnes also smacked 10 terminations on 19 attempts (.474). Sophomore Taylor Golmen also contributed seven kills (.667) in the Golden Eagles' third consecutive win in straight sets.
The hosts' largest improved from the night prior was the serving effort – led by senior Lauren Cloud's trio of aces. Golmen, senior Morgan Fincham and senior Jillian Blackman each added a pair, totaling 11 aces and only four errors from the service line.
"We corrected the serving mistakes made last night and did an outstanding job of locating really tough serves that not only provided us with points, but kept Central Christian out of system for the majority of the night," head coach Ken Carver pointed out. "In watching the scout film on Central Christian, it was evident that they can be a really scrappy team and – given enough opportunities in long rallies – can play close with any team. One of our main goals tonight was to terminate rallies early and make long runs of points to not allow any momentum to be generated by their team.
While the John Brown back row defense needed just 28 total digs on the match, the Golden Eagle setters ran a very efficient offense – passing out 32 assists, committing only one error. Cloud notched 18 and Fincham added 14.
"Tonight's performance against Central Christian was one of our team's best performance's overall in our young season," added Carver. "While Central Christian didn't have the opportunity to demonstrate it against our team, their team is much improved. Winning both of our mid-week matches in straight sets allows our team to preserve a little of our energy heading into a weekend with three tough opponents and, most importantly, keeps our team on pace to be in the hunt for a conference title."
The Golden Eagles will now travel to Parkville, Mo. to take part in the Park (Mo.) Classic. JBU opens play on Friday afternoon (Sept. 9) versus William Woods before taking on host and No. 4 Park and McPherson (Kan.) the following afternoon.
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