SILOAM SPRINGS, Ark. -- Freshman Paige Addington served up a career high eight aces, but the Golden Eagle offense could never find a comfort zone as the John Brown University volleyball team fell to Wayland Baptist (Texas) in four sets (24-26, 25-18, 14-25, 23-25) on Friday evening (Sept. 5) inside Bill George Arena.
The Pioneers (2-2, 1-0 Sooner Athletic) jumped out to an early 9-0 lead in the first set, but the Blue and Gold responded and actually carried a 17-15 lead midway through the frame. Tied at 24, Wayland sided out and took advantage of a bad JBU set to clinch the 1-0 advantage.
A 10-0 outburst allowed the Golden Eagles (4-5, 0-1) to take a 13-8 lead in the second, and used six Pioneer errors to capture the set and tie the match at one apiece.
The visitors never trailed over the final two frames. JBU tied the fourth set at 23 apiece, but back-to-back Wayland terminations closed the match in both teams' Sooner Athletic season opener.
"Tonight's match was a battle of momentum and runs," head coach Ken Carver noted. "While we had some strong stretches from the service line, especially from Mallory and Paige, we also gave up too many runs. Still, I'm proud of the grit our team showed to stay engaged and fight back in sets one and four. Beyond points, we served well by consistently locating our spots. Neither team blocked particularly well, so both relied on back-row defense, where Paige, Mallory, and Taylor contributed well.
The difference came in attacking. Averaging fewer than 10 kills per set makes winning difficult unless you score heavily from the service line or the block. We were only a few swings short of taking the first and fifth sets. Offensive consistency is still developing, but Akayla and Reese were steady options in the middle, earning key points. Cleaner first-ball contact would have allowed us to use them more and relieved pressure on our pins, who faced too many second-tempo and out-of-system balls."
The Golden Eagles finished the evening hitting .126 (36-19-135), and fell to 2-5 when hitting below .200 percent. Freshman Clara Hyke smacked a team-leading nine terminations, while junior Akayla Kador hit an impressive .462 (8-2-13) while contributing on a pair of blocks.
Sophomore Tessa Burton passed out 16 assists, while Addington posted 17 digs in the back row to accompany her career-best ace output. The 15 Golden Eagle aces were a season-best so far in 2025.
JBU will attempt to split the opening weekend of Sooner Athletic play when the Golden Eagles welcome Oklahoma Panhandle State on Saturday afternoon (Sept. 6), with first serve slated for 1 p.m. The match will be carried live on the SAC Sports Network and the Urban Edge Network simultaneously.
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