Jenna Lowery Archives

John Brown opens season with close losses

August 14, 2019

FULLERTON, Calif. – The John Brown University volleyball team opened the 2019 campaign with a pair of setbacks, falling in straight sets to Montana Tech and No. 15 The Master’s (Calif.) inside the Darling Pavilion on the first day of the Hope International (Calif.) Summer Slam on Wednesday (Aug. 14).

Senior Carly McKinney appeared in her first outing since 2017, and contributed a team-best 15 digs on the defensive end, adding onto a five-kill, two-ace effort. Senior and returning All-SAC first teamer Jessica Schultz posted a team-best eight terminations and hit .462 (7-1-13) on the match. She also threw up four block-assists.

Sophomore Jenna Lowery, reigning SAC Freshman of the Year, added 14 scoops on the back row, while both Golden Eagle setters, sophomore Carrie Ciesla and freshman Lauren Cloud, each nearly missed a double-double in the first match of the season. Ciesla finished the match with 14 assists and nine digs, while Cloud added 10 helpers and nine scoops in her collegiate debut.

Both squads struggled to find the offense early, but John Brown (0-2) persisted out to a set-high three-point advantage, 15-12. The Orediggers (1-0) responded, however, and rattled off amd 9-4 run to take its first lead at 21-19 lead. Coming out of a JBU timeout, Montana Tech captured three of the next four points to close out the first set, 25-22.

The second set featured a back-and-forth affair that included back-to-back aces from freshman Jillian Blackman the vaulted the Golden Eagles into a 13-9 advantage. That would vanish, however, as Tech responded to take a 14-13 lead. The streak would finally break at 7-1 over eight rallies when an Oredigger service error and a Jaden Williams rejection knotted the score at 16 apiece. Facing a 21-17 hole, Ciesla served JBU back into contention with an ace and a Beck-Schultz block that again tied the score, this time at 21. However, an attack error and reception error fueled Montana Tech’s final run to a 25-22 win and a commanding 2-0 lead in the match.

The third and final set was never in doubt as the Orediggers came out with a 11-4 lead to capture the final set running away, 25-15. Tech posted its match-high .333 attack clip (13-1-36) in the last set.

The John Brown hitting finished the contest at .060 (30-23-117), while the Orediggers, carried by its strong third set, ended the match at .155 (30-13-110).

Later in the evening, the Golden Eagles hit the court again to take on No. 15 The Master’s (Calif.). The Mustangs (1-1) came out swinging, hitting over .300 in two of the three sets.

Freshman Ellie Lampton provided a bright spot from the service line as the Siloam Springs native launched four aces, a game high, as Schultz again led the offensive effort, posting a team-best eight kills. Williams turned in an especially strong effort, terminating seven attacks without committing an error to finish the match .438 (7-0-16).

The Golden Eagle attack continued to struggle, hitting just .094 (33-20-138), while The Master’s responded with a .277 (48-12-130) effort.

Ciesla passed out 14 helpers while freshman Morgan Fincham added nine in her collegiate debut. Junior Taylor Glover scooped up 13 attack attempts in the loss.

Back-to-back kills from Glover and Schultz kept JBU in the first set to push the score to 10-9 in favor of the Mustangs. A 6-0 run from TMU placed the Golden Eagles back into a deficit until a Beck kill and a Cloud ace brough John Brown to within four, 19-15. The Mustangs again ended the JBU response quickly, ending the first set on a 6-1 run to close out the set, 25-16.

Nine ties highlighted the back-and-forth second-set battle between the two teams. Tied at 17 apiece after neither team had more than a two-point lead the entire set, the Mustangs ripped off four consecutive points before John Brown responded with back-to-back Lampton aces to pull within one, 21-20. The Golden Eagles wouldn’t get any closer, with TMU finishing off the 25-20 win.

The Golden Eagles continued its hunt for a set victory by keeping close with the Mustangs for yet another nine ties throughout the third. Down 11-9, Lampton and Lowery served John Brown into an 18-13 lead before The Master’s could respond, highlighted by kills from McKinney, Williams and Fincham. Again, the rally would end there, as the Mustangs responded late with an 8-6 run to retake the lead, 21-19. A Williams terminations continued the match, tying the score at 25 apiece, but back-to-back Mustang kills completed the final set, 27-25, and the match.

John Brown returns to action tomorrow (Aug. 15) when the Golden Eagles take on Evergreen State (Wash.) and California – Merced at 10 a.m. and 4 p.m., respectively. JBU will then return home to Siloam Springs before continuing the season in Kansas on Aug. 23-24.

John Brown wins opening matches of tourney

August 24, 2019

By JOHN BROWN SPORTS INFORMATION

HUTCHINSON, Kan. – After struggling to find offensive rhythm in California last week, the John Brown University volleyball squad pieced together back-to-back matches hitting over .300 to land clean sweeps of Bethel (Kan.) and Avila (Mo.) on Friday (Aug. 23) inside the Hutcherson Sports Arena.

In the first match of the day, the Golden Eagles (4-2) rode a pair of plus .500 hitting performances from junior Jaden Williams and senior Kinzee Mayo to the 25-19, 25-19, 25-14 win. Williams terminated a career-high 11 attempts and finished .529 (11-2-17) on the match. Mayo finished the match without committing an error, launching a season-high eight kills to finish .500 (8-0-16) on the morning.

The two-pronged passing effort of John Brown produced a pair of double-digit assist marks as freshman Lauren Cloud produced a career-high 21 assists. Sophomore Carrie Ciesla added 15.

The JBU defense held the Bethel attack in check all morning, as the Threshers could only mount a .074 (22-16-81) effort. Alongside a team total of six blocks, John Brown also scooped 38 of Bethel’s 81 attack attempts, led by senior Carly McKinney’s 15. McKinney has posted double-digit digs in all six matches so far this season.

Sophomore Jenna Lowery and Cloud each served up a trio of aces as the Golden Eagles finished the morning matchup with nine to help offset 13 errors.

John Brown continued its momentum into the afternoon against Avila – but this time it was McKinney’s 10 terminations in errorless fashion that drove the Golden Eagle attack effort. Alongside hitting .500 (10-0-20) on the match, the senior scooped another 10 attempts on defense to earn her a second double-double on the season.

Senior Megan Beck’s seven terminations and .350 attacking clip (7-0-20) also helped power JBU’s best offensive output of the season to date. The Golden Eagles finished with a .356 (40-9-87) mark in the quick 64 minute contest against the Eagles.

Ciesla shouldered the majority of the passing responsibilities to finish with 18 helpers, five digs and a trio of aces.

The Avila offense never really started and was bogged down by 23 attack errors to finish the match at a .040 clip (27-23-101). Katelyn Payan was the lone exception with a match-best 12 terminations.

JBU will finish the KCAC Fall Fling with a pair of matches in back-to-back fashion on Saturday (Aug. 24). The Golden Eagles will take on Oklahoma Wesleyan at 3 p.m. before facing Sterling (Kan.) in the finale at 5 p.m.

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.