The Lady Bruins captured their fifth straight NCCAA DII South Region Championship on Saturday as the team swept #2 Toccoa Falls College 3-0 in the Davis Field House in Greenville, South Carolina.
"I thought we started very strong and had some great serves which took them out of their offense right away," Bruins Head Coach Vickie Denny said. "I also thought we played some really good defense and had so many hitters contribute."
The Bruins came into the game on the heels of a 3-0 sweep of #4 Johnson University (FL) in the semifinal round. Victoria Glaze and Faith Rahn powered the Bruins with a combined 27 kills while Brooke Beaver had 9 aces in the win.
Toccoa Falls entered Saturday's championship match after a 3-1 win over #3 Pensacola Christian College in the semifinal match. This would be the fourth time the Bruins and Screaming Eagles met this season with the Bruins winning two of the three previous matchups.
In the opening set, the Bruins came out strong as Brooke Beaver had a kill and an ace as the Bruins led 4-1. The Screaming Eagles answered back but the Bruins went on an 8-1 run thanks to kills from Beaver and Emma Riddle.
After back to back kills from Faith Rahn later in the set, the Bruins took a 18-9 lead. The team continued to pick apart the TFC defense with kills and tough serves as they closed in for the set win. Victoria Glaze came up with a big kill and then ended the set with an ace as the Bruins took set one 25-11.
In the second set, the Bruins again came out strong as the serving of Brittany Annand helped the Bruins build a 9-2 lead. After a timeout by the Screaming Eagles, the Bruins picked up where they left off as Annand came up with back to back kills to help the Bruins keep their lead. The Bruins closed in on a set two win thanks to back to back aces from Victoria Glaze.
Kayla Oberstar added an ace of her own before the Screaming Eagles committed back to back errors as the Bruins took set two 25-14 to take a 2-0 lead in the match.
The Bruins were just one set away from the region championship, and again took the early lead thanks to kills from Emma Riddle and Faith Rahn. The Screaming Eagles battled back as they looked to avoid the sweep scoring four straight points to trail 9-8. After a timeout by the Bruins, the team came out strong with kills from Brooke Beaver and Faith Rahn as they scored four straight points to lead 13-8.
Another 5-0 run later in the set gave the Bruins a commanding 19-10 lead as they looked to finish off the Screaming Eagles. After a kill from Brooke Beaver and a kill and ace from Faith Rah, the Bruins led 23-14. The Screaming Eagles gave the Bruins match point with a service error before Victoria Glaze hammered home a kill to win the set 25-16 and the match 3-0.
"We didn't want to let up or let them back into the game," Senior Setter Brittany Annand said as she finished with 33 assists in the win. "Toccoa is a really strong team and thrives off of their energy. We didn't want them to get that chance to come back into the game. We wanted to side out every point that we lost so we could get the point right back and not give them that glimmer of hope."
Faith Rahn led the Bruins with 12 kills and 5 digs in the match while Victoria Glaze and Brooke Beaver each had 8 kills. Brittany Annand did it all for the Bruins with 7 kills, 2 aces and 33 assists as the Bruins captured their fifth straight South Region crown.
"This has been a different season with COVID, but we have grown a lot and responded so well," Coach Denny said. "How we played today shows how much we've grown after not playing well against Toccoa the last time we played. We're looking forward to the national tournament and are going to bring our best game and see what happens."
Next up, the Bruins will represent the South region in the NCCAA DII National Tournament November 18-20, in Greenville, South Carolina. Bob Jones University once again is serving as tournament host as eight teams from around the country will compete for the national championship. Final seeding for the tournament will be decided in the coming days.
