Over half of the regular season is in the books for the John Brown Golden Eagles, and after a tough non-conference slate and an inconsistent first couple of weeks of Sooner Athletic Conference play, business is picking up for the varsity team. The Golden Eagles, led by head volleyball coach Ken Carver, are currently riding the waves of a four-match winning streak, their longest of the season.
It all started with a four-set victory over Oklahoma Panhandle State at Bill George Arena in Siloam Springs on Sept. 18. The Golden Eagles then swept Lyon in three sets on Sept. 21. Three-set sweeps against Central Christian and Langston on Sept. 24 and Sept. 25 on the road brought their win-loss record to 11-9 overall and 5-3 in SAC play.
Even though the Golden Eagles have put together a solid winning streak, there are plenty of tough teams coming to town during JBU’s upcoming four-match home-stand that could bring it to an end. The home-stand starts with a match against Texas Wesleyan on Oct. 1, followed by a matchup against Southwestern Assemblies of God less than 24 hours later on Oct. 2. Texas Wesleyan regularly ranks among the SAC’s elite teams, while SAGU was the only team to defeat JBU at Bill George Arena last season (defeating them on Apr. 2 and in the SAC Tournament quarterfinals on Apr. 6).
Mid-America Christian, led by one of the conference’s most dangerous players in Hanna Foecker, comes to town on Oct. 8, and a match against Science & Arts on Oct. 9 will conclude the four-match home-stand at BGA. This will be their second match against both teams, as JBU lost to MACU at the Gaulke Activity Center on Sept. 1, and they were victorious against USAO at the Drover Fieldhouse on Aug. 31. Regarding the tough schedule in front of them, Carver noted that the SAC may be the strongest it has ever been in his eight seasons at JBU.
“Having either played or watched scouting film on everyone in our conference, I feel this is the deepest our conference has been in my time at JBU,” Carver said. “The top eight teams in our conference have the ability to beat any of the rest of those teams on any given night. The competitive parity we’re experiencing this season forces all of the teams to be better, be more focused and consistently bring their ‘A’ game each night.”
Meanwhile, the junior varsity program, led by Steve Brankle, continues to go deeper into their season. They collected their first win on Sept. 21 against Lyon, and many more big matchups remain on their schedule. One of those is their match against SAGU on Oct. 2. It will be the first time that the junior varsity team has faced another SAC school.
Regarding this match, Brankle said that “I look forward to playing SAGU. They are always at the top of the conference like us and I’m sure their JV [team] will be good too,” adding that he “would love to see other SAC schools add JV teams and have this lead to a post-season JV conference tournament.”
The varsity team’s match against Texas Wesleyan will start at 7:00 PM on Friday, Oct. 1 at Bill George Arena. The junior varsity team will take on SAGU at BGA the following morning at 10:00 AM on Saturday, Oct. 2, before the varsity team will take the court against SAGU at 12:00 PM. Attendance is free at all of the matches at Bill George Arena this weekend, and they will be available to watch on the SAC Sports Network.
Photo courtesy of Karen Penner