The Bruins women's volleyball team suffered another tough loss on Thursday night as they fell to Erskine College in straight sets 3-0 in Due West, South Carolina. With the loss, the Bruins have now lost three in a row as the team falls to 4-5 on the season.
"Erskine outplayed us on both sides of the net tonight," Bruins Head Coach Vickie Denny said. "They had some big front row players and put up a pretty strong block against our hitters. Errors continue to plague us offensively and we are not coming up with big plays in close sets."
The Bruins came into the match on the heels of a tough loss on Tuesday night as the team fell in a five-set match to Toccoa Falls College. It was the first region loss the Bruins had suffered since the 2017 season.
The Flying Fleet are not playing a fall season but have two exhibitions scheduled with BJU this fall. Last season, Erskine finished the year at 11-22 and fell to the Bruins in Greenville 3-1. The Bruins hoped to get back into the winning column as they took the court on Thursday night.
In the opening set, the Bruins jumped out to an early 3-1 lead before the Flying Fleet came back with a 5-0 run to grab momentum in the set. Although the Bruins remained within striking distance, the team couldn't find their offensive and hurt themselves with errors at key times as they fell 25-20 in the opening set.
Both teams went back and forth in the second set with several lead changes throughout. Emma Riddle gave the Bruins an 11-7 lead with a kill as the Bruins looked to keep the upper hand. Instead, the Fleet battled back to eventually tie the set at 18-18 thanks to kills up front from Katy Torgerson.
Erskine then scored the next three points as it looked as though they would again close out the set in the late stages. The Bruins had other plans as Brittany Annand provided a great serve streak to allow the Bruins to battle back and trail 22-21. The Fleet were able to pull ahead for set point 24-22 but Brooke Beaver came back with a kill and the Bruins tied it 24-24 thanks to an error by Erskine. The comeback by the Bruins was short-lived as the Fleet came back with back to back points to win the second set 26-24.
The Bruins looked to avoid the sweep as they recorded back to back points and built an early lead in set three. The Flying Fleet then went on a 8-0 run to take a 9-3 advantage. The Bruins tried to respond and were able to slowly cut into the lead. However, the Fleet continued to maintain the upper hand thanks to errors by the Bruins and an effective scoring attack that found holes in the Bruins' defense. Erskine never looked back as they completed the sweep with a 25-12 win in set three to win the match 3-0.
"Hopefully every loss will help us learn as we continue to work at getting better together," Coach Denny said.
Victoria Glaze led the Bruins with 9 kills in the match while Brooke Beaver finished with 8. Brittany Annand tallied 16 assists in the match while Katelyn Landkrohn led the Bruins with 11 digs.
Next up, the Bruins will return home as the team welcomes South Region rival Pensacola Christian College to the Davis Field House on October 23.
