The 2024-25 season for Bruins sports officially got underway on Friday as the Bruins volleyball team opened the regular season on the road at the 30
th Annual Cougar Classic in Danville, Virginia. The Bruins finished up day one with back-to-back five set losses to Guilford College and Roanoke College.
"I felt like the team battled to the very last point today against two solid programs," said Head Coach Vickie Denny. "Being such a young team with so little time to prepare for this competitive tournament, there were moments we played in rhythm and had some positive play and other moments where we were completely out of sync. It was two tough losses but we will learn and regroup and get ready for day two tomorrow."
Today's season opened marked the third meeting between Guilford College and BJU. The Quakers entered the match holding the 2-0 record over the Bruins.
As today's game got underway, the Bruins and Quakers exchanged points early in set one before the Quakers went on a five point run. A service error gave the Bruins a much-needed point to break up the scoring spree. The Bruins battled to get within striking distance and after four straight points, the Bruins evened the score at 22. Guilford closed out set one with a score of 25-23.
Bob Jones got off to a hot start in set two with an early six point advantage. Guilford worked to cut down the deficit and soon tied the game at 18 points apiece. The two programs went back and forth, but it was the Bruins that came out ahead 26-24 to take the second set.
A strong offense combined with some key defensive blocks for Guilford College held the Bruins to just 16 points in set three as the Quakers took the 2-1 lead.
The fourth set saw another good start for the Bruins and after a service ace followed by consecutive errors by Guilford they led 11-7. Guilford closed the gap and took the lead after a 6-1 run. The Bruins regrouped and finished out the set strong with a. 11-2 run to force a fifth set.
Despite some strong plays by the Bruins, the Quakers closed out the match with the 15-9 win in the fifth set to take the 3-2 match victory.
After a brief break, the Bruins were back on the court to take on Roanoke College. Today's contest marked the third time the Bruins and Maroons have faced off at the Cougar Classic with the Bruins holding the 3-0 series record.
The first set began with some back and forth action as the Bruins and Maroons exchanged points. After three attack errors by Roanoke College, Faith Blalock wrapped up set one with a kill from Elyse Vest to take the set one victory 25-18.
Looking to capitalize on their momentum, the Bruins got underway for set two. Three aces by Emily Lewis and Elyse Vest combined with attack errors from the Maroons pushed the Bruins ahead 12-8. They battled to the end with the set point coming off of a clutch block from Emily Lewis.
Roanoke came from behind to take the next two sets and even the match 2-2.
The Maroons had all the momentum as they went into the fifth and final set of the night. They quickly got out to a five point advantage as the Bruins battled to chip away at their lead. The Bruins worked off of some errors by the Maroons to come within two points. The set ended with an impressive rally from both sides, but it was Roanoke who took five set thriller.
Following the game Coach Denny said, "we will continue to get better and learn through these early days of our season. Tomorrow will be another challenging day as we face two more very solid teams."
There won't be much time for rest and recovery as the Bruins have a 10 a.m. start time against the University of Lynchburg before wrapping up the tournament with a noon game against Averett University.
