The Bruins volleyball team recorded back to back wins on Friday afternoon including a five-set comeback as the team improved to 11-1 on the season with wins over Paine College (3-0) and Erskine College (3-2). With the wins, the Bruins have now won five straight matches.
"I was really proud of how our team responded today," Bruins Head Coach Vickie Denny said. "We have a young team and haven't faced a lot of adversity this season so tonight we grew a lot as a team and different individuals stepped up for us at key times in each match."
The Bruins came into today's tri-match on the heels of a 3-0 sweep of Piedmont University on Tuesday. In the first match of the day, the Bruins would face Paine College in the first ever matchup between the two programs.
In the opening set, the score went back and forth with Bruins eventually taking a slim lead thanks to kills from Camila Silva and Victoria Glaze and an ace from Katelyn Landkrohn. The Lions came right back but the Bruins continued to answer with points as a kill from Timbre Cruz made it 19-15. From there, the Bruins were able to hold off a late rally by Paine as they won set one 25-19.
The Bruins jumped out to an early lead in set two as a pair of kills from Victoria Glaze helped the team lead 5-2. Back to back aces from Emma Riddle later in the set increased the lead as the Bruins led 14-8. From there, the Bruins continued to push their lead and closed out set two on a 7-1 run as they took a 2-0 lead in the match with a 25-14 win.
In the third set, the Bruins came out looking for the sweep as they jumped out to an early 4-1 lead. The Lions looked to battle back as a kill from Skye Livingston and an ace from Soleil Johnson helped Paine battle back to trail 9-7. From there, the Bruins responded well as an ace from Landkrohn and a kill from Silva sparked a five-point run for the team. The Bruins had grabbed momentum and they wouldn't let it go as the team cruised to a 25-12 win in set three to sweep Paine College 3-0.
Victoria Glaze led the Bruins with 13 kills in the match while Hannah Prince had 17 assists. Maddy Thomas and Katelyn Landkrohn each finished with three aces as the Bruins played well throughout to capture the win.
Next up, the Bruins would face the Flying Fleet of Erskine College who came into the match on the heels of sweeping Paine College in the second match of the day.
From the earliest stages, the score would remain close with both teams trading points and the lead. A five-point run by Erskine helped the team lead 11-6 but the Bruins eventually battled back to trail 18-17 after an ace from Kayla Oberstar and kills from Emily Via and Victoria Glaze. Again Erskine went on a short run to lead 22-19, but the Bruins came roaring back to close out the first set strong as the team won 25-23.
In set two it was the Bruins who jumped out to the early lead before Erskine battled back to take a 9-5 lead thanks to a 7-0 run. The Bruins responded with a 7-1 run of their own as Emma Riddle and Camila Silva made kills to give the Bruins the lead.
Back and forth the two teams went with the Bruins eventually leading 23-21 and looked to close out set two. Instead, back to back kills from Kaile Tuisamatatele fueled the comeback for the Fleet as they evened the set 1-1 with a 25-23 win in set two.
The Bruins and Flying Fleet continued to remain close in set three before three straight errors by Erskine allowed BJU to build an 11-7 lead. It looked as though the Bruins would run away with the set as Emily Via made a kill to make it 18-10. Instead, Erskine came roaring back to eventually tie the set at 24-24 before a kill by Victoria Glaze and an error by Erskine gave BJU a 26-24 win in set three.
With a 2-1 lead in the match, the Bruins came out looking to finish off the Flying Fleet. Errors would plague the Bruins throughout the fourth set which gave Erskine the upper hand. Still, the Bruins continued to keep pace as they trailed 15-13. Unfortunately, the errors proved too much to overcome as Erskine forced a fifth and final set with a 25-17 win in set four.
Both teams came out in set five knowing only one team could leave the court a winner. Erskine took the early lead and went on to go on a 7-0 run thanks to kills from Meredith Hollinger and Makenzie Kinne and errors by the Bruins.
Trailing 10-3, hope was beginning to slip away for the Bruins. After a timeout, Kayla Oberstar stepped back to serve for the Bruins and provided a spark as the team began to chip away at the Erskine lead.
After a pair of aces by Oberstar and kills from Victoria Glaze, the Bruins battled back to tie the set at 14-14. From there, the teams went back and forth with both getting to match point on more than one occasion. In the end, a big kill by Victoria Glaze gave the Bruins match point before freshman Emily Via completed the comeback with a back-corner kill as the Bruins won set five 19-17 and the match 3-2.
"It is not over until it is over," Coach Denny said. "You can have the lead or you can be down but until that final point is scored it is never over. We had been in this situation before and we got the points we needed to. We reduced our errors and played great down the stretch for the win."
Victoria Glaze turned in a dominant performance for the Bruins with 17 kills and 20 digs. Katelyn Landkrohn played a great game defensively with 31 digs to go along with four aces in the win.
Next up, the Bruins will be back in action on Saturday as the team travels to Columbia, South Carolina, for a tri-match against Johnson University (TN) and Columbia International University.
