GameDay: Volleyball vs. Texas Wesleyan
SILOAM SPRINGS, Ark. (November 7, 2014) -- The Golden Eagles (20-10, 8-6 SAC) will look to finish the regular season with a pair of wins this weekend as it hosts Texas Wesleyan tonight at 7 p.m. inside Bill George Arena.
For the second time in three seasons, John Brown reached the 20-win plateau by picking up a pair of non-conference victories by defeating Williams Baptist (Ark.) by a 3-1 score (25-15, 25-17, 23-25, 25-15) before coming back from a 2-1 hole to take down Ozarks (Mo.), 3-2 (25-23, 24-26, 26-28, 25-10, 19-17) on Tuesday (Nov. 4).
Junior outside hitter Melissa Bakke picked up her second-straight double-digit kill output by throwing down a team-best 13 kills in the win over Williams Baptist. Junior outside hitter Tiffany Hunnicutt landed fifth double-digit kill effort of the season by chipping in with 12 of her own. Sophomore setter Shayna Daniels earned a double-double by dishing out a game-best 23 assists while finishing as one of three Golden Eagles in double-digit digs (10) and added a trio of service aces. Junior outside hitter Libby Blasingame came off the bench to provide eight kills and four block-assists.
The Golden Eagle defense gobbled up 80 digs and limited WBC to a mere .097 hitting percentage on the afternoon, including a -.023 percent in the second set. JBU faltered in the third set, but used a .355 percent in the first set and a .429 percent in the fourth to finish the match at .246 percent.
Dearien pounded a match-high 20 kills in the win over Ozarks (Mo.) and picked up the double-double with 20 digs. Bakke poured in 14 terminations while Blasingame notched 10 kills and seven blocks. Daniels (29) and freshman setter Alyssa Arnold (20) powered the Golden Eagles to 59 assists on 63 kills. Bakke also landed a double-double by grabbing 12 digs as Young earned a game-best 24 digs in the win.
John Brown continued its consistent hitting, finishing with a .204 hitting percentage (63-25-186) while limiting the Bobcats to just .125 on the night (60-35-200). JBU picked up 105 digs, a season-high, and 10 team blocks, fueled by Blasingame and helped by four more from senior outside hitter Vanessa Uhrhahn and a pair from Hunnicutt, Bakke and Pugh.
The Rams enter tonight’s tontest with an overall mark of 13-17 but boast a 9-5 conference record after winning three of its last four outings, dating back to Oct. 21. TWU pieced together back-to-back wins over St. Gregory’s (Okla.) and Southwestern A.G. (Texas) before falling to conference leader Oklahoma Bapitst in four sets on Oct. 28. Wesleyan rebounded with a sweep over Southwestern Christian (Okla.) on Nov. 1 in Ft. Worth, Texas.
Shelby Stinnett leads the Rams in kills (301) followed closely by Alex Hendee (279). TWU employs the services of two setters in the rotation as Lauren Hamaker has dished out a team-best 613 assists while Kristina Gafford has posted 462 helpers on the season. Abigal Zipoy leads a TWU defense that is ranked No. 32 in the nation in digs per set (17.42) with 599 scoops. Stinnett’s 50 service aces has her ranked No. 47 nationally in aces per set (.440).
Live video and stats will be available for tonight's contest, courtesy of JBUathletics.com.
