Lauren Cloud 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 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 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.