Volleyball Falls to Southwestern Christian in Historic Upset
BETHANY, Okla. -- For the first time in program history, the John Brown volleyball team (18-13, 8-6 SAC) fell to Southwestern Christian (Okla.), this time by a margin of 3-1 (25-14, 17-25, 21-25, 22-25) on Thursday (Oct. 29) night inside Pickens-Springer Gymnasium.
Senior Molli Pugh lead the way with a team-leading 16 terminations while freshman Bayli Reagan added a career-high 10 kills in the loss. Reagan completed the double-double by digging 11 SCU attack attempts and added a pair of block-assists. Senior Libby Blasingame notched eight kills, one solo block and six block-assists as JBU out-rejected the hosts, 10-2.
Southwestern Christian, which improved to 13-19 overall and 5-10 in conference play, was paced by Tory Sharps 21 digs and 18 kills on the night. Shaeli Munroe followed with 15 kills, Dallas Bruns finished with 11. Courtney Traylor passed out 45 assists to facilitate the offense.
Terina Harris paced the SCU defense with 22 digs. Bruns notched nine, Traylor had eight and Lakin Minahan tallied seven.
After limiting the Eagles to a mere .077 attack percentage in the first set, John Brown stumbled on offense throughout the remainder of the contest, including a .069 percent mark in the third set.
“Tonight's match was a tough one to lose,†admitted head coach Ken Carver. “We were faced with some adversity on several fronts before the match even started so while we lost, I appreciated the team's effort and attitude in dealing with these. Give credit to SCU, they came out fired up and played with a lot of passion and purpose tonight. We played well in spurts but unfortunately not consistent enough to win the match.
“We needed to do a better job with our first ball contact tonight in order to be more consistent with our offense. We also didn't control the runs of points SCU was able to make a crucial points in the match after the first set. The loss, while very tough to swallow, just gives us some things to keep working on as we look to finish the season off on a strong note and head into the conference post season tournament with some momentum."
For the first time this season, the Golden Eagles were without the services of senior Audrey Dearien, who was inactive due to illness.
JBU returns to action on Saturday (Oct. 31) when it heads to Pt. Lookout, Mo., to participate in a triangular, hosted by College of the Ozarks. JBU will take on St. Thomas (Texas) at 3 p.m. before facing the host Bobcats at 5 p.m.
