The Bruins kept up their winning ways on Saturday afternoon as the team swept Johnson University (TN) and Brewton-Parker College in straight sets to move to 7-5 on the season. The sweeps come on the heels of a 3-0 sweep over Pensacola Christian College on Friday night in what proved to be a great weekend of play for the team.
"I was really pleased with the team effort today," Bruins Head Coach Vickie Denny said. "We are coming together as a team, playing as one, and limiting our errors. I told the players last week that we were really close to being a good team and I think we've turned the corner."
The Bruins first faced Johnson University (TN) in the first match of the day as the team hoped to avenge an earlier season loss to the Royals on October 3. The Bruins came out strong in the opening set as Emma Riddle recorded back to back aces to help the team jump out to a 5-0 lead.
The Bruins kept up their momentum as kills by Kayla Oberstar, Victoria Glaze, and Brooke Beaver sparked a 7-0 run as the Bruins led 13-2. From there, the team never looked back as they closed out the set 25-14.
In the second set, the Bruins and Royals exchanged points early on with several lead changes. After the score tied 7-7, Brooke Beaver added three kills to give the Bruins an 11-7 lead. The Bruins kept the upperhand thanks to kills from Victoria Glaze and Faith Rahn forcing the Royals to call a timeout.
Out of the timeout, Victoria Glaze served a 7-0 run for the Bruins as Beaver again came up strong with kills before Glaze ended the set with an ace as the Bruins took a 2-0 lead in the match with a 25-13 win in the second set.
The Royals came into the third set looking to avoid the sweep as they jumped out to an early 7-3 lead. Back to back kills from Emma Riddle sparked a run for the Bruins as the team battled back to tie 11-11. From there, the Bruins kept up their momentum as a pair of aces from Kayla Oberstar allowed BJU to take a 19-13 lead. The Royals tried to mount one last comeback but it wasn't enough as Brooke Beaver hammered home a kill to end the set 25-18 and the match 3-0.
Brooke Beaver led the Bruins with 12 kills and 5 digs on the day while Victoria Glaze and Kayla Oberstar each recorded 11 kills in the win. Brittany Annand had 36 assists while Glaze and Beaver each had three aces.
In the second match of the day, the Bruins would be paired with Brewton-Parker College who came into the match on the heels of a loss to Johnson University (TN) in the other matchup in the tri-match. This would be the fifth meeting between the two programs with the Bruins having a 3-1 record against the Barons.
As the match began, the Bruins stormed out to an early lead as Faith Rahn had a kill and Brittany Annand recorded an ace as the Bruins led 5-1. The Bruins kept up the great play as they went on a 6-0 run in the midway point of the set thanks to a pair of aces by Rahn and kills from Glaze and Annand. The Bruins closed out the set thanks to errors by the Barons as they won 25-9 in set one.
The Bruins built an early lead, but errors allowed the Barons to come back and tie the set 6-6. The Bruins responded well as another 6-0 run put the Bruins up 17-9. From there, kills by Beaver and Timbre Cruz helped the Bruins close out the set as BJU took a 2-0 lead in the match witha 25-15 win in the second set.
With a sweep in their sights, the Bruins stormed out to a 6-1 lead in set three thanks to a pair of aces from Brooke Beaver and kills from Emma Riddle and Kayla Oberstar. The Barons tried to battle back but the Bruins went on another 7-0 run thanks to four aces by Victoria Glaze as they took a commanding 21-9 lead. The Bruins finished off the Barons for the sweep as Courtney Campbell recorded the kill to win set three 25-12 and the match 3-0.
Brooke Beaver led the Bruins with 12 kills to go along with four aces while Brittany Annand finished with 28 assists in the win. The Bruins serving was stellar in the match as the team finished with 15 aces overall.
"We need to keep doing what we are doing," Coach Denny said. "Everyone just needs to continue to get a little bit better as we work hard to finish our season strong heading into our regional tournament."
Next up, the Bruins will be home again on Friday as they welcome Erskine College to the Davis Field House. Tip-off for the match is set for 7 p.m.
