The Bruins volleyball team turned in a dominant performance on Friday night as the team swept rival Pensacola Christian College 3-0 in the Davis Field House in Greenville, South Carolina. With the win, the Bruins move to 5-5 on the season and 3-1 in region play.
"We wanted to bring more energy and just get better," Bruins Head Coach Vickie Denny said. "We just felt like we were ready to play tonight and I was pleased with how our players played tonight. We had some great practices this week and we were clicking tonight."
The Bruins came into the match on the heels of back to back losses including suffering their first region loss since the 2017 season in a loss at Toccoa Falls. The Bruins were determined to right the ship as they came out against their rival in front of the Bruin faithful.
In the opening set, the Bruins came out strong as a kill from Brooke Beaver and a pair of aces from Emma Riddle allowed the team to take a commanding 9-1 lead. Kayla Oberstar had a pair of aces during the midway point of the set as the Bruins increased their lead to 20-5 thanks to a 10-1 run. The Bruins never looked back as they took the opening set 25-6.
The Bruins had the Eagles back on their heels and again jumped out to a 11-2 lead. The Eagles battled back thanks to a 6-0 run as they cut the lead to 16-12. It looked as though the Eagles would battle their way back into the game, but the Bruins refused to back down as Kayla Oberstar made a kill and the Bruins closed the set on a 6-0 run to win 25-14 and take a commanding 2-0 lead in the match.
The fans in the Davis Field House were in full voice as the Bruins eyed the sweep. Brooke Beaver and Victoria Glaze made kills as the Bruins scored seven straight points before leading 9-1 to open the set. Victoria Glaze then took over the set as the sophomore recorded seven kills in the third set alone as she powered the Bruins to close out the third set 25-10 to sweep Pensacola 3-0.
"Our defense was incredible tonight," Glaze said after finishing the night with 13 kills and 7 digs to go along with two aces. "That fed into our offense and allowed us to put it down. We came in tonight and focused on eliminating our errors and we did a good job of that."
The Bruins had thirteen service aces on the night and limited their errors which had been a problem in recent matches. Brittany Annand had 20 assists on the night while Brooke Beaver made 9 kills and Faith Rahn had 6 kills in the win.
Next up, the Bruins will be back home again on Saturday as they welcome Johnson University (TN) and Brewton-Parker College for a home tri-match.
