The Bruins volleyball team battled hard, but the team came up short in back-to-back matches at the Valley Invitational in Hickory, North Carolina. The team fell to Lake Sumter State College 3-1 and Owens Community College 3-2. With the losses, the Lady Bruins are now 16-5 on the season.
"Our court performance today was disappointing," Bruins Head Coach Vickie Denny said. "We did not make the defensive plays necessary to compete at this level of competition. Overall, we hope to learn from these losses and be a better team down the stretch because of them."
The Bruins took the court first against the Lake Hawks. The two teams went back and forth in the opening set with the score remaining close throughout. Amanda Schwartz led the Lake Hawks defensively as she finished the match with 45 digs. Her performance sparked the Lake Hawks as the Bruins had trouble getting points when it mattered most. As a result, Lake Sumter took the opening set 25-20.
It was a similar story in the second set as the Bruins struggled to slow the Lake Hawks. Laura Gaston provided some key kills for the Bruins but again the team found themselves on the losing end of a 25-20 set. Now, the Bruins were down 2-0 and looked to avoid the sweep in the third set.
Katherine Ring helped the Bruins grab momentum in the third set with several key blocks to go along with timely kills offensively. Although the Lake Hawks would make a run, the Bruins were able to hold off the charge as they took the third set 25-22 to force a fourth set.
In the fourth set, the Lake Hawks came out wanting to end the match and it showed as Kitana Lim found the holes in the Bruins defense. BJU didn't help itself as the team had several errors. As a result, the Lake Hawks were able to maintain the upper hand as they finished off the Bruins with a 25-19 win in the fourth set and a 3-1 match victory.
Looking to rebound from the earlier loss, the Bruins took the court several hours later to battle the Owens Community College Express. OCC came into the day at 23-3 on the season. Coach Denny's pregame pep talk proved effective in the early stages as the Bruins came out strong from the opening serve. The team got a spark from Brooke Beaver as her timely kills helped the Bruins take the lead and they never looked back in a 25-17 victory in the opening set.
The Express came out looking to even the match in the second set as the teams traded points early on. The close score would remain until both teams tied 24-24. The Bruins were able to execute their game plan and came away with a 26-24 win in set number two to go up 2-0 in the match.
The Bruins were riding high as they looked to end the day on a high note. The Express had other plans as they rallied in the third set to prevent the sweep. The Bruins couldn't recover as OCC won the third set 25-18 to put the match at 2-1.
The fourth set provided another opportunity for the Bruins to close out the match. Again, errors and defensive miscues allowed the Express to grab a lead. The momentum had clearly swung to OCC as they won the fourth set 25-18 to force a fifth and final set.
With their backs against the wall, the Bruins knew they needed to improve if they wanted the win. The Express continued to find holes in the Bruins defense while the Bruins struggled to maintain a consistent offensive flow. As a result, OCC was able to complete the comeback as they rallied to win 15-10 in the final set and take the match 3-2.
On the day, Katherine Ring led the Bruins with 22 kills while Laura Gaston had 20. Rachel Williams had 73 assists on the day while the Bruins defense garnered 213 digs. Next up, the Bruins will be back in action at the Valley Invitational tournament with back to back matches on Saturday against Nova College and St. John's River Community College.
