Box Score
The NCCAA DII National Volleyball tournament got off to an early 10:30 a.m. start in Joplin, Missouri Wednesday morning where the Bruins were upset by #5 Manhattan Chrisitan College 3-0.
"Unfortunately we did not step up and play a national tournament level match against a good Manhattan team," said Head Coach Vickie Denny.
The Bruins entered this game as the #4 seed set to take on the #5 Thunder from Manhattan Christian College. Bob Jones and Manhattan Christian had met five times where the Bruins held the 5-0 series record including a 3-0 win in last year's national championship match.Â
As today's pool play game got underway, the Thunder got off to a hot start. After falling behind early, the Bruins came back to tie it at 11 off of a kill by Hannah Goodwin. Despite some miscommunication, the Bruins kept it close. Back-to-back aces by Hayley Prater tied the game 22-22. An error by Manhattan gave the Bruins their first lead of the contest to reach set point 24-23. Manhattan came back to take the next three points and win set one 26-24.Â
The Thunder started the second set on a 6-0 run before a service error finally put BJU on the board. The Bruins continued to struggle all throughout the second set resulting in a 25-12 set loss.Â
The Bruins pulled it together in the third and battled back to knot the score at 11 points apiece. A block by Bethany Estell tied the game again at 14 points before her kill gave BJU their first lead of the set. The Bruins gave up their lead and finished the set behind 26-24 to fall in straight sets to the #5 seed.
Today's result marks the first loss in program history to the Manhattan Christian College Thunder.Â
The pressure is on as the Bruins have their work cut out for them for day two of pool play where they will take on #8 Grace Christian University and the top-seeded Randall University as they look to advance in the tournament.
Wednesday's contests begin at 10:30 a.m. on the campus of Ozark Christian College in Joplin, Missouri.
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