The Lady Bruins are headed to their third straight NCCAA DII National Championship game as the team defeated #1 seeded Maranatha Baptist University 3-1 in the semifinal round. The Bruins advance to take on #3 Dallas Christian College at 5 p.m. on Friday.
The Bruins and Sabercats are familiar foes in the national tournament, having met twice in the national championship and twice in the final four. The Bruins came into the match after winning all three of their pool play matches while the Sabercats fell short to #4 Randall University in a five-set thriller in their final match of pool play.
In the opening set, the two teams traded points as the score remained close. After the set tied 5-5, the Bruins scored four straight points thanks to kills from Brooke Beaver and Victoria Glaze. The Sabercats answered back as kills from Claire Hansel and Mattie Bumpus cut into the Bruins lead.
Later on in the set, Victoria Glaze gave the Bruins a 19-14 lead thanks to an ace, but the Sabercats came roaring back with five-straight points to tie the set at 19-19. The two teams traded points with both hoping to close out the set for the win. Victoria Glaze came up big for the Bruins with back to back kills as the Bruins edged the Sabercats 25-22.
In the second set, the Bruins took an early lead but the Sabercats came right back as they went on a run to lead 7-4. The Bruins came right back with four straight points as Brooke Beaver and Kayla Oberstar made kills for the team. The Bruins maintained the upper hand and forced the Sabercats into a timeout after back to back errors on MBU.
With a 14-11 lead, the Bruins came out strong on a 9-2 run taking a 23-13 lead in the set. The team never looked back as kills from Victoria Glaze and Faith Rahn ended set two 25-14 to give the Bruins a 2-0 lead.
The Sabercats refused to back down as they remained neck and neck with the Bruins throughout the third set. The Bruins scored five-straight points thanks to a kill by Emma Riddle and errors by the Sabercats as they took a 12-7 lead. It looked as though the Bruins would complete the sweep as they kept their lead, but the Sabercats came roaring back with a big run, eventually tying the set at 17-17.
Maranatha had grabbed momentum and it showed as they took the lead thanks to kills from Claire Hansel and Caitrin Kemlo. The Bruins tried to battle back but the Sabercats finished off the set 25-21 to stay alive and force a fourth set.
The Sabercats kept up their momentum as they led 4-1 at the beginning of set four. The Bruins were back on their heels, but found an answer on the serving of Faith Rahn as she recorded a kill and two aces to help the Bruins battle back to lead 8-5.
Back and forth the two teams went as each went on short runs and exchanged the lead. After a timeout, the Bruins and Sabercats led 16-16 when BJU scored the next five points thanks to back to back kills from Victoria Glaze.
After an error by the Sabercats, the Bruins closed in on the win and finished off MBU with Brooke Beaver recording two straight kills and Brittany Annand winning the match on an ace as the Bruins took set four 25-18 and the match 3-1.
Brooke Beaver had a dominant performance recording 19 kills and 17 digs in the win. Victoria Glaze had 15 kills to go along with 11 digs while Brittany Annand finished the match with 49 assists.
The Bruins will advance to the NCCAA DII National Championship on Friday night as they face #3 Dallas Christian College who defeated #4 Randall University in the semifinal. The Bruins and Crusaders met in pool play with the Bruins winning in a hard-fought match 3-0.
Tip-off for the match is set for 5 p.m.
