The Bruins volleyball team stormed into the NCCAA DII South Region Playoffs with back to back sweeps over #5 Trinity College and #4 Johnson University of Florida in straight sets. The Bruins will advance to the semifinal round tomorrow afternoon.
"I felt like we played better as the day went on," Bruins Head Coach Vickie Denny said. "We had good contributions from our serving line which helped us close things out."
The Bruins entered the tournament with the #1 seed after finishing the regular season with a perfect 8-0 region record. The team also came into the tournament with momentum as they rode a 10-game winning streak into the opening round.
In their first match of the day, the Bruins battled Trinity College. The Bruins were able to ride the strong killing attack of Brooke Beaver as the freshman helped the team jump out to an early lead. The Tigers tried to call a timeout to slow the Bruins with the score 16-7, but BJU came right back out as they cruised to a 25-13 victory in set one.
The Tigers came out looking to even the match in set two as the two teams battled to a 6-6 tie early on. The Bruins shored up their defense which fed into their scoring attack as Beaver and Jordan Anderson helped the Bruins take the lead. Courtney Bates recorded an ace for the Bruins as the team closed out the second set strong with a 25-16 win. The Bruins led the match 2-0.
Jordan Anderson came up with a big block to begin the third set as the Bruins again took an early lead. Katherine Ring added an emphatic kill as she rocketed a spike off the face of a Tiger player. From there, the Bruins kept pouring it on as they led 20-13. The Tigers tried to rally, but a ball out of bounds ended the match as the Bruins won 25-13 and swept the Tigers 3-0.
In the second match of the day, the Bruins would face the Johnson University of Florida Suns. Laura Gaston and Katherine Ring had a strong defensive presence early on as the Suns attackers struggled to get it past the Bruins front line. The Bruins built an 8-4 lead before going on a run to take a commanding 21-11 advantage. The Bruins scored the next four points unanswered as Jordan Anderson hammered home a kill to win the set 25-11.
The Bruins had momentum and it showed as the team came out strong in the opening of the second set. The Suns were able to rally but the Bruins maintained a 9-7 lead. Another big block by Katherine Ring sparked another rally for the bruins as the team went on to win the second set by the same score as the first 25-11.
Leading the match 2-0, the Bruins looked like they couldn't be stopped as they stormed out to a 6-3 lead. The team then went on a 10-1 run thanks to a strong serving attack by Saleena Walker to lead 22-5. The Bruins finished off the Suns 25-5 to sweep their second match of the day.
Brooke Beaver led the Bruins with 19 kills on the day while Jordan Anderson had 16. Katherine Ring provided great blocking for the day as she finished with seven solo blocks and two block assists. Rachel Williams had 49 assists on the day while Saleena Walker finished the day with 48 digs.
Next up, the Bruins will play the winner of the 1 p.m. match on Friday afternoon between #2 Pensacola Christian College and #4 Johnson University of Florida. The semifinal for the Bruins will begin at 3 p.m.
