John Brown evens record in California

August 15, 2019

By JOHN BROWN SPORTS INFORMATION

FULLERTON, Calif. – Behind a 14-kill effort from senior Jessica Schultz in the first match of the day against Evergreen State (Wash.) and a strong defensive team effort against California, Merced, the John Brown University volleyball team evened its record to 2-2 on the young season on Thursday (Aug. 15) inside the Darling Pavilion.

JBU dispatched Evergreen State in five (25-16, 25-21, 18-25, 22-25, 15-12) before sweeping past California, Merced (25-13, 26-24, 25-21).

“Our trip out to California provided our team with the opportunity to play some really high-caliber teams at the HIU Summer Slam tournament,” head coach Ken Carver said. “While we definitely struggled with the consistency of our execution on the first day of the tournament, I was really pleased with our team’s ability to re-focus and come out ready to play on the second day of the tournament. The first sets of both of our matches on the second day of the tournament provided our team and our fans a glimpse of what our team is capable of doing in terms of our offensive potential and serving aggressiveness.

“With only eight days to prepare for this tournament, I knew that we stood a good chance of being inconsistent offensively as we’re still very much developing the chemistry between all of our hitters and setters as well as the meshing of our new players with the core group of returning players. Whereas on the first day we struggled to close out sets and breakdown mentally when not playing well, our team showed a lot more grit and poise today when our opponents pushed runs of points. We did a much better job of letting go of our mistakes and working to play the next ball. I was also really pleased with the team’s overall performance from the service line and our service reception. I think those two areas were where our team performed the best. We had moments of playing really stellar defense, but need to keep working on our defensive discipline as well as bettering our blocking performance.

“All in all, to come away from this very competitive tournament experience, on such short amount of preparation time, I am very pleased with where our team is starting out at. With another week of practice ahead of our second weekend tournament, I am expecting to continue ironing out the kinks and finding a more consistent rhythm with our team that will hopefully lead to an even better result on the court our second week out.”

Against Evergreen State, Schultz led the way with an impressive hitting performance, collecting 14 kills and hit .619 (14-1-21) to lead all attackers in the contest. She also contributed four block assists. Senior Carly McKinney and junior Taylor Glover each posted their first double-digit termination match of the season, as the duo combined for 10 kills apiece. McKinney completed her first double-double of the season by leading all players with 26 digs.

Sophomore Carrie Ciesla notched a career high with 29 assists on John Brown’s 52 kills on the match.

The Golden Eagles (2-2) dominated from the service line, launching 10 aces on Evergreen. McKinney had four, while freshmen Ellie Lampton and Lauren Cloud added three and two, respectively.

John Brown never trailed in the first set – running out to a 17-9 lead courtesy of a difficult Geoduck outing offensively as ESC posted a .051 (9-7-39) mark in the opening game. JBU replied with a .278 clip (13-3-36), its best single-set outing of the 2019 season so far.

Again, the Blue and Gold never trailed in the second set, but this wasn’t without drama. Back-to-back Schultz terminations was followed by a pair of Lampton aces to hand the Golden Eagles a 15-8 advantage. Later, with a 19-10 lead, JBU had to battle through a 11-3 Evergreen run that pulled the Geoducks within one, 22-21. Junior Jaden Williams and senior Kinzee Mayo combined on a block to end the ESC rally in its tracks, as another Geoduck attack error followed by a Mayo-Schultz rejection ended the set in favor of the Golden Eagles.

Sets three and four featured tight battles that saw Evergreen pull off mid-to-late set rallies – knotting the score at two apiece and forcing a fifth and deciding game.

Three early ties in the fifth set was finally broken by terminations from McKinney and Williams, and punctuated by a Lauren Cloud ace that gave JBU a 6-3 lead. ESC would pull within one, but a string of unforced errors allowed the Golden Eagles to retain an 11-7 lead. The Geoducks replied with a 5-1 rally to tie the match as 12, but Schultz’s kill followed by a pair of Evergreen attack errors ended any chance of a rally.

JBU finished the match hitting .119 (52-29-193), but kept Evergreen at bay, holding the Geoducks to a mere .109 (53-33-187).

The second match of the day was far less dramatic as the Merced attack, .023 (34-31-130), only had enough gas to give the Golden Eagles one close set.

A balanced attack for John Brown featured eight kills from Mayo, a second high, and seven from senior Megan Beck. However, it was the JBU defensive effort that solidified the win.

McKinney scooped up another 20-dig effort, while Schultz and Mayo led the way with four blocks apiece as John Brown posted 14 block-assists to hold the Bobcats in check. Williams also contributed three rejections in the win.

Cloud and McKinney each served up three aces as the Golden Eagles finished the tournament with 31 aces, averaging just shy of eight per match.

In the first set, John Brown blew open a narrow 11-9 lead to take a 20-12 advantage, courtesy of a Cloud ace. Three consecutive Merced attack miscues fueled the Golden Eagle run to clinching the first set. JBU finished the set on a 14-4 rally.

A 7-1 John Brown rally to open the second forced a quick Bobcat timeout, and before Merced could rally, the Golden Eagles had built a 10-2 lead. Miscues allowed Merced to build some momentum, however, and three straight Bobcat kills that tied the match at 20 apiece forced Ken Carver to burn a timeout.

The squads traded points through eight rallies as the match was tied at 24. A Mayo kill from Cloud gave the Golden Eagles the advantage, and a subsequent Merced attack error ended the set that the Bobcats nearly stole.

Instead, the Golden Eagles carried a 2-0 lead into the third set – one that featured 10 ties and six lead changes. Neither team had more than a one-point lead until back-to-back blocks gave John Brown a small 3-0 rally to take an 18-15 lead. That’s all the Blue and Gold would need as the lead eventually grew to five, 23-18, until Beck’s kill ended the match from Ciesla.

John Brown, now back to .500, returns to action in Hutchinson, Kan., on Aug. 23-24. The Golden Eagles face a quartet of Kansas Collegiate Athletic Conference foes in the annual KCAC Fall Fling.

John Brown claims pair of wins

August 24, 2019

By JOHN BROWN SPORTS INFORMATION

HUTCHINSON, Kan. – After dropping its first two matches of the season, the John Brown University volleyball squad, behind a pair of wins over Oklahoma Wesleyan and Sterling (Kan.) on Saturday (Aug. 24), is now riding a six-match winning streak after picking up another pair of sweeps inside the Hutchinson Sports Arena.

“I am so very proud of the performance of our players this weekend,” head coach Ken Carver said. “Coming off our performance in California, our team looked good in almost every facet of the game save one and that was our offensive consistency. In preparation for this weekend’s tournament we spent a lot of time focusing on improving our output and cutting down on the number of unforced errors.

“The two other things we spent a good deal of time on was on improving our blocking technique and embracing and enjoying pressure situations. This weekend we got to put all of those things we practiced to the test and our team passed with flying colors. Going 4-0 on the weekend and not dropping a set was a phenomenal performance by our team. We faced adversity at several points in overcoming deficits and closing out sets that were really close.”

Having to play in back-to-back matches, the Golden Eagles (6-2) limited the amount of work needed on the courts by taking care of Oklahoma Wesleyan in straight sets, 25-19, 25-11, 25-13.

The blocking effort by the John Brown front row kept OKWU (1-3) at bay all afternoon as the Golden Eagles posted a season high 15 team blocks, led by senior Jessica Schultz’s six block-assists and junior Taylor Glover’s pair of solo rejections. The effort resulted in Wesleyan hitting a -.104 (23-34-106) on the match – a season-best effort for JBU.

Senior Carly McKinney led the way with 10 terminations, adding four blocks and an ace to her stat line. Schultz added eight kills as the duo combined for over half of the John Brown kill effort as the Blue and Gold hit .207 (28-10-87) on the match.

JBU then had to turn around and immediately face Sterling (Kan.) in its last match of the two-day KCAC Fall Fling. This time, it was senior Kinzee Mayo that shouldered the majority of the attack as she posted a career-high 12 kills, hitting .391 (12-3-23) on the match. McKinney barely missed out on the double-double, adding nine terminations and 12 scoops. Schultz finished with an efficient eight kills on 13 attacks to hit .615 in the late match.

Sophomore Carrie Ciesla and freshman Lauren Cloud passed out a combined 31 helpers on John Brown’s 44 kills, with Ciesla finishing with 18, Cloud with 13. Cloud would also add a pair of aces to led the squad after eight games with 13 aces.

Sophomore Jenna Lowery scooped up a game-high 19 digs.

The Warriors (1-3) couldn’t get the offense going, despite taking a 6-0 lead in the first set, and finished the match hitting .088 (28-18-114).

“To have a team attack over .200 for the weekend while limiting our opponents to an attack of .022 speaks to our players’ ability to execute at a high level on both the offensive and defensive fronts of the game,” added Carver. “Our setters did a great job of running a balanced offense and our hitters did a much better job of taking care of the ball and making smart shots. The results we had this weekend demonstrated the progress we had hoped to make with another week of practice with our team. The season is still very young and we still have a lot of growing to do, but I love the camaraderie this team has already developed, the depth we have on our roster and the mental toughness we’ve been able to show early on. We’ll enjoy the success of this weekend and then spend the next two weeks preparing for the start of our conference season and the opportunity we have to play in front of our home fans for our next four games.”

John Brown will now rest for two weeks before enjoying its home opener on Friday (Sept. 6) against Oklahoma City. First serve inside Bill George Arena is slated for 7 p.m.

JBU attacker honored by Sooner Athletic Conference

August 26, 2019

By JOHN BROWN SPORTS INFORMATION

Photo/Graphic by John Brown University

SILOAM SPRINGS – Senior Kinzee Mayo has been named the SAC’s Attacker of the Week by the league offices on Monday (Aug. 26) for her performances in John Brown’s 4-0 weekend at the KCAC Fall Fling in Hutchinson, Kan.

The Golden Eagles (6-2) have pieced together a six-match win streak after starting off the 2019 campaign with a pair of setbacks. This past weekend, JBU bested Bethel (Kan.), Avila (Mo.), Oklahoma Wesleyan and Sterling (Kan.) – all in straight-set fashion. John Brown has won its last five without dropping a game.

Mayo, a native of Anthony, Kan., was the offensive highlight for the JBU attack as the senior posted a 3.1 kills per set average while boasting a career-best 12 kills against Sterling en route to claiming her first-career SAC weekly honor. More impressive was her consistency as she finished the weekend hitting .490 (28-3-51).

She also posted eight rejections, seven of the block-assist variety.

“I’m excited for and proud of Kinzee being named the Attacker of the Week for her performance this past weekend,” head coach Ken Carver admitted. “Coming off of our first tournament in California, Kinzee really upped her focus and desire to get better and trained really hard in preparation for the KCAC Fall Fling. She was able to dial in her attack timing and did a fantastic job of making smart shots and seeing openings on the court to put balls down for our team consistently over the course of the entire tournament.

“Her consistency led to her finishing the weekend as the top attacker of the entire tournament. Beyond her outstanding performance on the court, as one of our three captains, she led our team well by being a vocal presence on and off the court and a consistent source of encouragement and positive energy for her teammates as well. To have this performance in front of family and friends, and now this honor, all icing on the cake for her.”

Up Next
After a pair of tournaments, the Golden Eagles will take its 6-2 overall record into the first weekend of Sooner Athletic play, where JBU will welcome Oklahoma City to Bill George Arena on Friday (Sept. 6) for a 7 p.m. first serve. The squad will then turn around the next day to play hosting duties to Southwestern Christian (Okla.) at 1 p.m.