The Bruins volleyball team saw their 11-match winning streak come to an end on Friday night as the team fell in a South Region matchup to Toccoa Falls College 3-2 in Toccoa, Georgia. With the loss, the Bruins fall to 18-6 on the season and 6-1 in region play.
"Unfortunately, we did not bring our best tonight while Toccoa came ready to play," Bruins Head Coach Vickie Denny said. "Our offense struggled all night and never got into a rhythm. Toccoa blocked very welland we had no answer for that the entire match."
The Bruins came into the matchup after sweeping Piedmont University on Tuesday night. The team had been riding a hot streak as they recorded seven-straight sweeps while recording seventeen wins in the last eighteen matches.
Earlier this season, the Bruins and Screaming Eagles met in the Davis Field House with the Bruins sweeping TFC 3-0. The Bruins knew they would be in for a tough matchup as they took the court against the Screaming Eagles.
In the opening set, the Bruins and Screaming Eagles went back and forth trading points and the lead. The Bruins were able to get key kills from Bethany Estell and Emma Riddle, but the Screaming Eagles kept pace as the score remained close. Near the end of the set, the Screaming Eagles made key plays down the stretch as they took set one 25-20.
The Bruins looked to even the match in set two and came out strong with kills from Timbre Cruz and Katherine Hoopes. The Bruins continued to stretch their lead but again the Screaming Eagles kept pace to keep the score close. The Bruins were able to even the match as they won set two 25-19.
In set three, both teams came out looking to gain the advantage in the match. The Bruins would go on short runs and the Screaming Eagles would respond with runs of their own. TFC would take a 2-1 lead in the match as they rode the energy of the hometown crowd to win set three 25-22.
The Bruins came out determined to force a fifth set and it showed in the early stages as the team jumped out to an 11-2 lead in set four. It looked as though the Bruins would run away with the set but the Screaming Eagles had other plans as the team came roaring back to cut the deficit to 16-15 in favor of the Bruins. Back and forth the two teams went until key kills by the Bruins forced a fifth set as the team took set four 25-21.
With one set to play, the Bruins and Screaming Eagles came out knowing only one would leave the court with the win. The Bruins got a big kill off the bat from Kyra Rickard, but the Screaming Eagles responded with nine-straight points as they led the Bruins 9-1. Although the Bruins tried to battle back, the deficit was too much to overcome as the Screaming Eagles defeated the Bruins 15-5 to win the match 3-2.
"We have not been pushed like that since the beginning of the season and it showed some weaknesses that we will need to fix to be competitive going forward," Coach Denny said.
Timbre Cruz led the Bruins with a double-double 11 kills and 16 digs while Katelyn Landkrohn had 22 digs in the match. Kiersten Hoopes finished with 40 assists but the Bruins committed 13 service errors and had other costly mistakes in the loss.
Next up, the Bruins will be on the road again on Saturday as the team plays a tri-match in Cleveland, Georgia, against Milligan University and Truett-McConnell University.
