The Bruins had their toughest test of the NCCAA National Tournament this far against Arlington Baptist University. Through four sets, the Bruins struggled to hold the momentum as both teams exchanged points. Ultimately, the Bruins won the match 24-26, 25-18, 26-24, and 25-19
. With the win over the Patriots, the Bruins advance to their sixth straight national title match.
It was a gritty win for the Bruins to advance. They fell behind early in the first set and struggled to keep up, but a couple of time outs helped the Bruins gather themselves and fight their way back from a 13-20 deficit. They tied the first set at 20 points a piece and found themselves on the verge of taking a 1-0 lead, but the comeback fell just short as the Patriots took it 24-26.
"Proud how our players roughed it out after falling behind early. Arlington had a solid game plan and defended us well. I felt like we finally got into a good defensive rhythm late in set one and almost pulled out an early win," said Head Coach Vickie Denny. "Although we didn't win set one, the big comeback gave us momentum as we started set two."
Even though the Bruins dropped the first set, it seemed as if the momentum had changed. The Bruins played another tight second-set, but won it with some breathing room 25-18.
Set three got underway with the Bruins quickly falling behind again. After calling a timeout to slow the Patriots down, they were able to catch up, but then it turned into a back-and-forth exchange. As the set was quickly coming to a close, neither team was able to hold the ball very long and it became a race to the finish line. The Bruins closed it out in a close 26-24.
"Our team played with incredible grit today. While we didn't take the first set we came back from 10 points down and never gave up," commented senior standout Victoria Glaze. "We gave ourselves momentum and kept our intensity high throughout the whole match. This win was a team effort and we played well together. Our bench continually had amazing energy which played a huge part into our success today. It was all around a great team win!"
The 2-1 lead was the motivation that Bruins needed to close out the match. The fourth-set started out in a back and forth exchange, but then the Bruins were able to string together some points and take the lead. Without looking back, they cruised to their third set point. The win would send the Bruins to their sixth straight national championship match.
Coach Denny commented further saying, "All in all, this was a classic semifinal match with some great volleyball. Arlington came to compete and pushed us. We expect the same tomorrow from Manhattan."
Up next, the Bruins will face the #2 seed, Manhattan Christian College. The Championship match is scheduled for 2:00 p.m. Saturday afternoon. You can find the PPV link
here.
 Â
