COLUMBIA, Mo. -- The John Brown University volleyball team split – defeating William Penn (Iowa) before falling to Xavier (La.) – on day one of the Hampton Inn Classic on Friday (Aug. 25) afternoon inside Columbia College's Southwell Complex.
In the first matchup, the Golden Eagles (3-2) used three double-digit terminations performances and a .255 attack clip (61-21-157) to oust the Statesmen (0-2) in four sets, 25-14, 25-21, 18-25, 29-27.
Senior Savanna Riney's 14 kills, and six block-assists, led all Golden Eagles, but she was joined by sophomore Emma-Kate Schaefer and freshman Cora Roweton as the duo each contributed 12 kills apiece and each hit over .400 on the match.
Junior Emma DeSanti split setting duties with senior Morgan Fincham and passed out a season-high 24 assists, while Fincham added 21 helpers in the win.
Junior Julie Milligan dug up a season-high 21 Statesmen attempts in the back row and also contributed four of John Brown's season-high 11 services aces.
The fourth and final set featured only two lead changes but included seven ties as the Golden Eagles attempted to stave off a fifth and deciding set. Set points were leveled by Riney, twice, until a Riney-Mullins block followed by a Riney ace gave JBU match point. An ensuing attack error again tied the score for a final time until consecutive Roweton terminations ended the match in four.
In the latter matchup, Xavier (1-1) hit .391 through the first two sets and took the contest in four sets, 25-27, 22-25, 25-17, 18-25.
John Brown allowed a 23-21 advantage late in the first set slip away despite a pair of ties preceded back-to-back Gold Nuggets terminations to end the first set. An incredible 14 ties populated the second set, but a three consecutive points with the set tied at 22 allowed Xavier to escape with a 2-0 lead.
The Golden Eagles hit .429 (15-3-28) in the third set on route to a commanding win to scrape away at the Xavier lead, but the Gold Nuggets built an early 14-7 lead that John Brown couldn't claw back from as JBU hit just .034 in the fourth game.
Riney led with 13 kills in the loss, followed by Roweton's 10 terminations. Milligan again served up four aces, while Fincham this time paced the Golden Eagle offense with 20 helpers.
The Golden Eagles close out action at the Hampton Inn Classic with a pair of matchups tomorrow (Aug. 26) afternoon when JBU takes on a pair of ranked opponents in Ottawa (Kan.) and host Columbia (Mo.) at 1 and 3 p.m., respectively.
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