The Bruins volleyball team opened preseason play on Saturday afternoon as the team fell to Covenant College 3-1 before falling to Reinhardt University 3-0 in a tri-match exhibition. Victoria Glaze led the Bruins on the day with 21 kills while Kayla Oberstar chipped in 26 digs defensively for the team.
"Today's scrimmages helped us work on some different combinations and allowed us to see players in different positions," Bruins Head Coach Vickie Denny said. "While we did some things well, we also saw several areas that we need to work on before our season begins next week."
The Bruins came into the tri-match after playing an intrasquad scrimmage last Saturday in the Davis Field House. The team has been in preseason practice for a little over a week but the team was ready to compete as they played in Lookout Mountain, Georgia on Saturday.
In the first scrimmage of the day, the Bruins would face off against Covenant College. In the opening set, the Scots came out strong behind the serving of Anna Baldwin as she recorded a pair of aces to help build a 5-1 lead. The Bruins came back thanks to kills from Courtney Campbell and Emma Riddle as they battled back to lead 7-5.
The two teams exchanged short runs before Emma Kalbfleisch made a kill for the Scots to make it 12-9. After a Bruins timeout, the Scots came out strong on a 10-3 run and never looked back as they took the first set 25-13.
Both teams exchanged points in the early stages of the second set, but the Scots once again held a slim lead. Victoria Glaze gave the Bruins a pair of kills but the Scots continued to answer back as they led 13-7. Although the Bruins battled back in the late stages of the set, the deficit was too much to overcome as the Scots won set two 25-19.
With their backs against the wall, the Bruins came out looking to avoid the sweep. The team battled back from an early deficit thanks to kills from Camila Silva and Bailee Hunger as they went on a run to lead 12-8. The Scots came back as the two teams eventually drew even at 17-17. The set went back and forth before Victoria Glaze gave the Bruins a spark with three-straight aces as the Bruins edged the Scots 26-24 in set three.
Trailing 2-1 in the match, the Bruins looked to bring the match back to even in set four. The Scots had other plans as they stormed out to a 8-1 lead. The Bruins tried to recover, but the Scots continued to find holes in the Bruins defense as they extended their lead. After a timeout, the Bruins were able to score three straight, but the Scots put the match out of reach as they won 25-12 in set four to win the match 3-1.
Victoria Glaze led the Bruins with 14 kills in the match to go along with three aces and eight digs. Hannah Prince and Rachel Pattisal combined for 23 assists in the match while Kayla Oberstar had 12 digs.
In the second scrimmage of the day, the Bruins would face Reinhardt University. The two teams opened set one with the score remaining close in the early goings. The Eagles then scored five-straight points forcing the Bruins to call a timeout. The timeout gave a spark to the Bruins as the team battled back to even the score 13-13 thanks to kills from Emma Riddle and Camila Silva.
The Eagles came right back with a run of their own as the team led 21-16. The Bruins tried to answer back but couldn't sustain their offensive rhythm as they fell 25-21 to the Eagles in set one.
With momentum, the Eagles came out and used another run near the midway point of the set to take a 12-6 lead. The Bruins tried to chip away at the lead, but costly errors allowed the Eagles to continue to build their advantage. Taylor Sawdy finished off set two for the Eagles with an ace as Reinhardt took a 2-0 lead with a 25-17 win.
The Bruins looked to avoid the sweep and took an early 7-4 lead thanks to kills from Victoria Glaze and Emma Riddle. The Bruins maintained their upper hand into the midway point of the set as a kill from Kayla Oberstar and an ace from Riddle pushed the BJU lead to 12-7. Unfortunately, the momentum was short lived as the Bruins would score just two points the remainder of the set. The Eagles went on to score 10 straight points before roaring back to finish off the Bruins in set three 25-14.
Victoria Glaze led the Bruins with 7 kills while Emma Riddle, Kayla Oberstar, and Camila Silva each finished with 6. Kayla Oberstar again finished with double-digit digs in the match with 13, but the Bruins struggled to maintain consistency throughout the day in back to back losses.
Next up, the Bruins will play their final preseason scrimmage on Tuesday night as the team welcomes Southern Wesleyan University to the Davis Field House.
