Golden Eagles Split Day Two; Bakke Sets Career High, Dearien Lands All-Tournament Honors
Shawnee, Okla. (August 23, 2014) -- After sweeping through opponents in the first day of the Oklahoma Baptist Invitational, the Golden Eagles (3-1) split with Hastings (Iowa) and Wiley (Texas) on the second day before junior Audrey Dearien was named to the All-Tournament team.
JBU began the day taking on Hastings (Iowa), who was receiving votes in the NAIA preseason coaches’ poll. Dearien notched a match-high 14 kills, but John Brown couldn’t upend the Broncos as Hastings grabbed a 3-1 (14-25, 19-25, 25-14, 25-17) decision.
Hastings limited JBU’s offensive output by throwing up 13.5 team blocks and forcing the Golden Eagles into 23 errors and a .114 hitting percentage. Sophomore Shayna Daniels contributed a team-high 23 assists and 11 digs while freshman Alyssa Arnold chipped in with 11 helpers of her own.
Multiple JBU errors helped Hastings vault to an 8-2 lead in the first set, an advantage the Broncos wouldn’t relinquish. The second set featured a tight rally and a 19-17 Bronco lead late in the game. However, four consecutive points by the opposition created the separation needed for Hastings to build a 2-0 lead.
The Golden Eagles responded with an impressive third set, led by four kills from junior Tiffany Hunnicutt. After falling behind 4-3, John Brown rattled off eight consecutive points, including a pair of strikes from Hunnicutt, to take an 11-4 lead. Up 11-5, another Hunnicutt kill began a 6-1 Golden Eagle rally, forcing a 17-6 margin, a trio of Melissa Bakke terminations continued to hold off Hastings as JBU captured the third stanza easily, 25-14.
In the fourth set, things began to even out. A Bakke kill handed JBU a slight 12-10 advantage before the squads battled to five ties, ending a 17 apiece. Hastings finished the set on an 8-0 run courtesy of a trio of John Brown errors and efficient attacking to close the match.
The Golden Eagles didn’t have much time to think about its first defeat of the season as the team had to immediately take the court again to close the tournament out against Wiley. The Golden Eagles earned a pair of dominating performances from Bakke and Dearien to dispatch the Wildcats, 3-1 (25-21, 25-19, 24-26, 25-10).
Bakke led all players with a career-high 18 kills in the victory while also contributing 13 digs. Dearien was just behind her, landing 17 terminations, four service aces and 23 digs. Senior Becca Young turned in an outstanding defensive effort with a match-high 24 digs and while Daniels passed around a game-high 18 assists.
Hunnicutt also chipped in with 11 kills, notching a career-high and her first collegiate outing in double-digit terminations.
At the conclusion of the tournament, the All-Tournament team was announced. After 51 kills in four matches, Dearien was one of 14 players named to the honor roll. For the entire All-Tournament team, please click here.
