Box Score vs John Brown        Box Score vs Oklahoma Baptist
Fort Worth, TX-The Belhaven volleyball team ran into some tough competition on Friday dropping two matches in the Wesleyan Hughes Volleyball Classic hosted by Texas Wesleyan University. The Lady Blazers lost their first match of the day to John Brown University 3-0 with final scores of 14-25, 17-25, and 16-25. Belhaven lost their second match of the day to Oklahoma Baptist University 3-0 with final scores of 21-25, 17-25, and 15-25.

                                                       

In match one versus John Brown (10-1), the Lady Blazers fell behind early in game one and couldn't find a rhythm on offense. With game one tied 2-2, John Brown put together a 9-2 run and opened up a seven point lead at 11-4. Belhaven could not recover and lost the opening game 14-25.

 

In game two, Belhaven held a two point advantage at 11-9 about midway through the game but John Brown rallied with an 11-1 run to seize the momentum and eventually pull out the game two victory. Game three in the match with John Brown played out much the same as game two as the Lady Blazers grabbed a 10-9 edge. However, John Brown exploded for an 11-2 run to recapture the lead at 20-12 and went on to easily win game three and take the match.

 

Belhaven was led by Christina Jaques with seven kills, a solo block, and three block assists. Samantha O'Malley and Jessica Davis each had six kills while O'Malley turned in seven digs. Erin Bradley paced the team with 10 digs, 17 assists and ace with Taylor Williams adding eight digs.

 

Belhaven ran into a solid Oklahoma Baptist team in the second match who came into the tournament ranked 24th in the latest NAIA Top 25 Poll. In game one the Lady Blazers fell behind early 11-3 but fought their way back into the game and eventually pulled to within two points at 21-19 thanks to an ace by Christina Jaques. Both teams then traded points making the score 23-21, but Oklahoma Baptist was able to close out the game on a couple of Belhaven errors.

 

Oklahoma Baptist once again in game two jumped out of the gate with a 10-0 run to open up the action. Belhaven then engineered an 8-2 run of their own to cut the deficit to 12-8 and pulled to within three points of Oklahoma Baptist a few scores later at 16-13. Unfortunately, the Lady Blazers could not sustain the momentum as Oklahoma Baptist outscored Belhaven 9-4 and won the game.

 

Game three was tight early with Belhaven trailing by just a point at 9-8. However, Oklahoma Baptist used another strong run outscoring the Lady Blazers 16-7 to close out the game and the match.

 

Jaques and O'Malley led the way with six kills each and Williams chipped in with five kills. Davis led the team in digs with 10 followed by Jaques with nine along with Jessica Akiona and O'Malley with seven each. Jaques also turned in two aces and three block assists. Bradley led the team in assists with 19.