GameDay: Volleyball vs. Mid-America Christian
SILOAM SPRINGS, Ark. (October 17, 2014) -- The Golden Eagles (14-8, 5-4 SAC) will look to bounce back from a difficult loss to Oklahoma City on Wednesday (Oct. 15) when it welcomes Mid-America Christian (Okla.) to Bill George Arena tonight in conference action.
Despite winning the first set, John Brown was tripped up in sets two through four, falling for the second time this season to Oklahoma City, this time by a 3-1 (25-22, 23-25, 17-25, 21-25) final at Bill George Arena.
In a match that featured 27 ties, Oklahoma City pulled away in three of four stanzas late to slip out of Siloam Springs with its second-consecutive win.
Junior outside hitter Audrey Dearien paced JBU with a team-high 16 kills and added a trio of service aces. Junior outside hitter Melissa Bakke also posted three aces and contributed 11 terminations while sophomore middle hitter Molli Pugh chipped in with 10 kills. Sophomore setter Shayna Daniels finished with a double-double, landing 11 digs while dishing out 20 assists. Freshman setter Alyssa Arnold came off the bench to post a match-high 21 helpers in the loss.
“We’re not there yet, but have made really big strides this season,” Carver added. “I’m proud of our young ladies heart, determination and work effort. We’re a resilient bunch and I know we’ll get back into the gym tomorrow and be hungry to improve upon things we didn’t execute as well as we would have liked this evening and prepare for our next two opponents.
“A special note of thanks from me and our team goes out to our men’s rugby team for their support at tonight’s match. We greatly appreciate their ‘unique’ support each year, along with all of the rest of the student body, family members and fans from the local community who come out and support our team.”
In the first set, John Brown outhit the visitors by a .263 to .182 percent difference, but the three sets after saw City hit at a better rate than the Golden Eagles.
Consecutive JBU service errors allowed the Stars to jet out to a 9-3 lead in the second set. The lead wouldn’t hold long, however, as two Dearien aces fueled a 10-4 John Brown rally, finished with two City attacking errors that tied the set at 13 apiece. The squads were never separated by more than two points down the stretch. After a 20-20 score, JBU was able to pull ahead three straight times, twice off terminations from Dearien, but City had an answer each time. Knotted at 23, OCU’s Meghan Irwin landed consecutive kills for the set win.
The third set began much of the same, a quick OCU lead, followed by a Golden Eagle comeback. The Stars jumped out early to a 4-0 lead, but four City errors cost the visitors the lead as JBU tied the score at six. Down 12-10, John Brown allowed the Stars to run to a 7-3 rally, enough to keep JBU at bay for the remainder of the set.
The visitors posted a .306 hitting percentage in comparison to JBU’s .201 percent. The Golden Eagles managed one more service ace than City, 10-9, but committed 23 attacking errors, 11 more than OCU.
In its last outing on Thursday (Oct. 16), Mid-America Christian captured the first set from NCAA II Arkansas Tech, but the Golden Suns took the next three frames for their 10th straight win in a non-conference matchup inside the Gaulke Activity Center.
Niemeier led everyone with a match-high 20 kills for the Lady Evangels (3-19, 1-8 SAC), who also got 32 assists from Luedtke. Camera Broadnax had a team-high 17 digs and Jenny Pratt was right behind with 16 digs.
Niemeier leads all MACU players with 135 kills on the season. Luedtke runs the offense at a rate of 5.94 assists per set, 416 helpers total, while Broadnax paces the team with 274 digs.
Luedtke ranks No. 31 in the nation in total service aces (38) and No. 18 in aces per set (.540).
Live video and stats, courtesy of JBUathletics.com, will be provided for tonight's match. First serve is slated for 7 p.m.
