The Bob Jones University women's volleyball team was excited to take the court for their first preseason game of the inaugural 2016 season. But the team struggled as they fell 5-0 in their games on Saturday.
"We knew going in this would be a very competitive tournament for our young team," Head Coach Vickie Denny said. "The girls worked very hard and were exposed to a much higher level of play then most were used to from their high school experiences."
The Bruins joined North Greenville University, Catawba College, Lenoir Rhyne University, Catawba Valley Community College and Belmont Abbey College in a series of round-robin games throughout the day in Hickory, North Carolina. As the day of competition began, the Bruins first opponent was the Belmont Abbey College Crusaders, an NCAA II program. The Bruins struggled out of the gate and dropped the first set 14-25. The team came out better in the second set, but the Crusaders closed strong to take the second set (18-25) and third set (8-13).
In the second match, the Bruins were paired with Catawba Valley Community College, one of the top junior college volleyball programs in the country. Again, the Bruins struggled to open the first set and fell behind quickly. The Red Hawks capitalized taking the first set 25-7. Although the Bruins saw improvement in the second set, the team still couldn't seem to string together a steady run and fell in the second set (17-25) and the third set (8-11).
The Bruins best match of the day came against North Greenville University. Although they still dropped all three sets (12-25, 23-25, 8-10), the team was able to have their most consistent match of the day in the hitting attack. Kirstin Christmas led the Bruins with 9 kills in the match while Erin Jarvis finished with 6. Olivia Vosbough contributed 13 assists.
In the fourth match of the day, the Bruins began to show signs of fatigue but continued to battle throughout each set. They again were paired with Catawba College. Although the Bruins dropped sets one and two (11-25, 20-25), the team came out strong in the third set to win 8-6.
The team closed out the day against Lenoir Rhyne University, an NCAA II program. The Bears proved to be a formidable foe as they took all three sets (13-25, 8-25, 7-18). Despite the results, the Bruins coaching staff understood the importance of facing such strong competition early on.
"We plan to take these lessons learned today and incorporate them into our practices next week so that we are better prepared for our upcoming preseason games," Coach Denny said.
The Bruins will return home to prepare for their next preseason match. Next up, the team will face Bryan College in Dayton, Tennessee on Wednesday.
