GREENVILLE, S.C. – The Dallas Christian College volleyball team saw its hot streak get halted on Thursday afternoon in its final match of Pool B against the host school and No. 2 Seed overall Bob Jones University. Despite the 3-0 setback, the No. 3 Seed Crusaders competed in each set that included seeing late leads slip away with 26-24 results in the first and last ones.
Bob Jones improved to 14-6 and 10-2 on its own court after showing some resilience being down 23-20 in the opening set and 23-17 in DCC's final chance to extend the game. The Bruins are no strangers to the NCCAA DII National Tournament, having won back-to-back titles in 2018 and 2019. BJU came out unblemished in the pool and will take on the No. 1 Seed Maranatha Baptist in the Semifinals on Friday.
The Crusaders moved to 12-7 on the season and saw their season-long five-game winning streak get interrupted after playing toe-to-toe in the first set with their toughest opponent on the schedule to date. Leading by about two most of the early going, Bob Jones knotted things at 12 before three straight points were given as a response by DCC that included a Christine Downey kill and forced a home team timeout. The Crusaders led by as many as three, but the opposition would rally back to level the score at 18. Lauren Baker had some go-ahead kills to make it 19-18 and 21-20. After an overpass set up Downey for a kill, the freshman out of Brownsboro, Texas, teamed up with Cameron Del Angel on a block assist.
The Bruins found their rhythm by tallying six of the final seven points to claim the set. They continued that momentum into the beginning of the middle set by doing the same run to force a quick DCC timeout. Dallas Christian did battle back after cutting a 10-point deficit (22-12) to 24-21 before falling behind 2-0.
That late surge carried momentum into the third set, as the Crusaders grabbed the first trio of points capped by a Del Angel ace. Dallas Christian never trailed until the final two points, as it used a 12-6 scoring swing to go up 20-13. The Crusaders were taking advantage of points on long rallies and the front row trio of Downey, Del Angel, and Baker racked up positive results.
Still, an experienced Bruins team was able to respond with a strong attack when in their system that was difficult for DCC to stop once they got going. A 23-17 lead was erased but Del Angel posted her season-best 10th kill of the day to make it 24-23. Job Jones finished the rally with the last three points.
Downey claimed the most kills for the Crusaders with 12 and had two blocks. Del Angel hit .409 with just one error in 22 attempts and was part of a pair of block assists. Kelly Graves made 17 assists and Caitlyn Yablon added 21 digs.
The Crusaders did take have better serve results in their first two wins on Wednesday, were bested 10-3 in service aces. Brooke Beaver was the leader in the game with 15 kills and 10 digs for a double-double. Victoria Glaze and Kayla Oberstar had nine and eight kills, respectively.
Dallas Christian will look to gain from the experience as it did qualify for the NCCAA Semifinals on Friday. It will be a very familiar opponent as the second team coming out of Pool A is the No. 4 Seed Randall University, who is in the same conference as the Crusaders. These squads will meet now for the third time since Halloween and the last two have gone to DCC in five thrilling sets. Randall won both matches in the Pool over Pensacola Christian College and Maranatha in five sets apiece. The winner advances to the National Championship Match at 5 p.m.
The competitive rivalry continues on Friday at 10 a.m. (EST), 9 a.m. (CST). Be sure to watch here.
