SILOAM SPRINGS -- The John Brown University volleyball team rolled along with a sweep (25-21, 25-18, 25-16) of Southwestern Christian (Okla.) on Wednesday (Oct. 11) night inside Bill George Arena, capturing its ninth straight-sets win of the season.
The Golden Eagles (18-7, 11-3 Sooner Athletic) have now won eight consecutive contests and have eared wins in 24 of 30 sets played during the run.
Hitting .281 (48-9-139) on the night, JBU was carried on offense by the Sooner Athletic's leading terminator, senior Savanna Riney, with 14 kills on 37 swings (.297), while a quartet of Golden Eagles contributed five kills apiece. Riney hit the double-digit termination mark for the fifth time in her last six matches.
John Brown held Southwestern Christian to .136 (36-18-132), the 14th opponent the Golden Eagles have held under .150 this season. In those 14 matches, JBU is 13-1.
Freshman Sara Welch pieced together her first-career double-double with 12 helpers and 10 digs. Senior Morgan Fincham also added 12 assists.
Junior Julie Milligan had a team-leading 17 digs in the back row, and with the effort surpassed the 1,000 career digs benchmark.
"I know I say this a lot about our team, but I'm really proud of how our players performed tonight," head coach Ken Carver noted. "Back-to-back matches during a heavy academic week leading into our fall break are always challenging due to our players' time and energy being pulled in multiple directions. Earning another conference win, adding to our current winning streak, while still focusing on doing well in the classroom is something these young ladies deserved to be commended for.
"While our first set was our most efficient, offensively, I liked the fact that with each successive set, our point spread grew and we were able to clamp down defensively against SCU. Tonight wasn't going to be about our blocking – due to the fact that so much of SCU's offense ends up being out of system – it was about being disciplined in our back row and being ready for chaotic and abnormal shots and working to get those back into system."
John Brown jumped into the lead and never faltered through the first two sets, but the third set featured six ties and three lead changes. Once down by four points, the visiting Eagles battled back to take a 13-12 lead, but Riney added two kills and a block-assist to return the lead to John Brown. After a service error, and the lead trimmed to one, 16-15, the Golden Eagles finished the match on a 9-1 run to close out Southwestern Christian in sweeping fashion.
Dasia Ingram (12) and Tessa Ortiz (10) each finished with double-digit terminations, while Faith De Souza passed out 20 helpers in the loss. Treasure Mozon completed the evening with 24 scoops in the back row.
Up next, the Golden Eagles travel to No. 24 Southwestern A.G. (Texas) and No. 17 Texas Wesleyan next week in the greater Dallas-Ft. Worth metroplex. John Brown will take on SAGU on Friday (Oct. 20) evening at 6 p.m. The match will air live on the SAGU Sports Network via YouTube from the Sheaffer Center.
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