The Bruins volleyball team is headed to the final four for the fourth straight season as the team swept #3 Dallas Christian College in their final pool play match of the NCCAA DII National Tournament on Thursday afternoon. The Bruins and Crusaders went back and forth in a hard fought match, but BJU was able to make key plays at key times to win 3-0 (26-24, 25-21, 26-24).
"It was an incredible match," Bruins Head Coach Vickie Denny said. "Dallas is a great team and they are very well coached. We knew they were going to be good, but we didn't know how good they were going to be defensively. They made it hard on our hitters throughout the match. We really enjoyed playing them as they really pushed us."
The Bruins came into the match on the heels of back to back wins in the opening day of the national tournament as the Bruins swept #6 Alice Lloyd College before defeating #5 Toccoa Falls College 3-1. Dallas Christian entered the match on the heels of back to back sweeps over #5 Toccoa Falls College and #6 Alice Lloyd College. The final four had been set, but it was a matter of who would be playing whom as the Bruins and Crusaders took the court.
In the opening set, the Crusaders took an early lead as the two teams went back and forth trading points. Brooke Beaver made a kill for the Bruins but the Crusaders answered back with three straight points to lead 9-5. Emma Riddle and Faith Rahn sparked a rally for the Bruins as they took four of the next five points to trail 10-9 in the set.
The two teams continued to trade points with neither able to build a sizeable lead. After several short runs for each team, the scored tied at 20-20. From there, the Crusaders scored three straight points forcing the Bruins to call a timeout.
The Bruins responded well out of the time out as they scored the next three points before Kayla Oberstar made a kill to give the Bruins set point 24-23. Christen Downey made a big kill for the Crusaders to tie the set at 24-24. The Bruins answered back as Kayla Oberstar made a kill and Brooke Beaver finished it off with a kill as the Bruins won set one 26-24.
In the second set, the Bruins kept the momentum and built an early 6-1 lead thanks to kills from Oberstar and Rahn. The Crusaders slowly chipped away at the lead as their defense kept balls in play which led to kills offensively. Still, the Bruins maintained the upper hand as back to back kills from Rahn sparked a 6-1 run to give the Bruins a 19-11 lead.
It looked as through the Bruins would run away with the set, but the Crusaders came roaring back 9-2 run. The Bruins were able to hold on for a 25-21 win in set two thanks to an attack error on the Crusaders. With the win, the Bruins took a 2-0 lead in the match and looked to finish off DCC in set three.
The Crusaders were determined to battle back and built an early lead in set three as Cameron Del Angel recorded two straight kills to give DCC an 8-4 lead. The Bruins answered back with three straight points as Victoria Glaze and Brooke Beaver made kills and Kayla Oberstar had an ace.
Near the midway point of the set, the Crusaders scored four straight points and sparked a rally, eventually leading the set 21-13 and forcing the Bruins into a timeout. It looked as though the Crusaders would force a fourth set, but the Bruins had other plans as the team went on a 10-2 run thanks to great serving from Brittany Annand as they tied the set 23-23.
The Bruins had grabbed momentum and after tying the set 24-24, Brooke Beaver recorded an ace and Kayla Oberstar completed the remarkable comeback with a kill to give the Bruins a 26-24 win in set three and 3-0 sweep.
"We responded well in a tough situation," Coach Denny said. "We just took it one point at a time and I thought we played better defense. We really appreciated the match with Dallas as they played us so hard and showed us areas we have to continue to improve in as we head into tomorrow's semifinal."
Brooke Beaver led the Bruins with a double-double 15 kills and 10 digs to go along with four aces. Brittany Annand had 41 assists in the match while freshman Kayla Oberstar had a big game with 8 kills , 13 digs and 2 aces.
Next up, the Bruins will play in the semifinal match on Friday afternoon at 12:30 p.m. They will play the loser of today's match between #4 seeded Randall University and #1 seeded Maranatha Baptist University.
