With their backs against the wall on the road, the Lady Bruins volleyball team stormed back from a 2-0 deficit for force a fifth set. Unfortunately, Carolina University edged the Bruins in the final set to win the match 3-2 in front of the hometown fans in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. With the loss, the Bruins fall to 1-1 on the season.
"Carolina is a very well coached team and they have added some strong players to their roster," Bruins Head Coach Vickie Denny said. "They were the better team tonight. Hopefully we learned some valuable lessons as a team that will help us as we move forward in our shortened season."
The Bruins came into the game on the heels of their season opener last Friday night in which the team swept Toccoa Falls College at the Davis Field House. For Carolina University, Friday's match would be their season opener. This would be the seventh meeting between the two programs with BJU winning all previous six matches.
In the opening set, the two teams went back and forth before Carolina went on a 9-2 run thanks to kills by Maya Gray and Jill Jones as the Bruins trailed CU 11-5. After a timeout, the Bruins came roaring back thanks to a kill from Victoria Glaze and errors by Carolina.
Faith Rahn put down an ace to tie up the score 16-16 later on in the opening set. Carolina responded with three straight points but the Bruins again battled back to tie 22-22. After a kill by Rahn and an attack error by Carolina, the Bruins looked primed to take the set. Instead, Carolina came storming back to win the set 27-25.
Carolina carried on the momentum into set two as they jumped out to a 4-1 lead, but errors allowed BJU back into the set as the Bruins eventually took an 8-7 lead thanks to a kill by Glaze. The Bruins would keep the lead for a bit, but Carolina again responded with several short runs as they took a 19-14 lead. Despite several kills from Brooke Beaver, the deficit was too much to overcome as Carolina won set two 25-21 to take a 2-0 lead in the match.
Looking to avoid the sweep, the Bruins recorded the first two points and built a 6-3 lead in set three. Carolina came back again, eventually drawing even at 11-11. The Bruins responded well as Timbre Cruz recorded an ace to give the Bruins the upper hand. Back and forth the two teams went before BJU rattled off four straight points to lead 20-16. Cruz would then end the set for the Bruins as she put down a kill to give the Bruins a 25-21 win in set three as the team trailed 2-1.
Momentum had swung to BJU and it showed as the Bruins recorded the first three points of set four. Carolina came back as the score remained close throughout the set. Timbre Cruz added another kill for the Bruins to spark an 8-2 run for BJU to lead 16-11.
With one set to decide it all, the two Bruins teams took the court. Victoria Glaze started things off with a kill before the two teams battled to a 5-5 score. From there, Carolina was able to steal momentum and eventually the match as they took advantage of the Bruins errors and went on to win the fifth set 15-8.
"Five gamers are always tough to lose," Coach Denny said. "After being down 0-2, I liked the way our team didn't back down but kept working to make something happen on the court."
Victoria Glaze led the Bruins with 15 kills and 13 digs on the night while Faith Rahn added 17 assists and 20 digs. The Bruins struggled with errors on the night as twelve service errors and eight receiving errors played a difference in the match. From there, the Bruins kept the momentum and took advantage of Carolina errors to win the fourth set 25-19 and force a fifth and final set.
Next up, the Bruins will be back on the road on Saturday as they face Toccoa Falls College in Toccoa, Georgia. The match is set to tip-off at 1 p.m.
