Volleyball Sweeps Holy Cross to Earn Saturday Split

Saturday, September 4

Smithfield, R.I.

10:00 AM

Brown University

1-1,0-0Ivy League

Boston College

5-0,0-0ACC

Boston College

Brown

Photo by: David Silverman Photography

Volleyball Sweeps Holy Cross to Earn Saturday Split

9/4/2021 8:07:00 PM | Women's Volleyball

Box Score 1 Box Score 2

SMITHFIELD, R.I. – The Brown women's volleyball team pulled off a sweep of Holy Cross to earn a split on Saturday at the Bryant Invitational. The Bears fell earlier in the day to Boston College by a 3-1 margin, and finish the weekend tournament with a 2-1 record to begin the season.

MATCH 1- BOSTON COLLEGE (5-0)
Brown stayed close in the opening set before taking their first lead at 13-12, and then again at 16-15. Tied at 17, BC scored three of the next four points to go up 20-17. The Bears pulled within one point on two occasions, including 23-22 before the Eagles won the final two points for a 25-22 final.

Brown used a 4-0 run to take their first lead in the second set, 15-13. The Eagles tied the match at 16 before Brown rallied for three straight points to take the lead for good. The Eagles pulled within one point on two more occasions, but Brown held off the run for a 25-21 win to tie the match at one set apiece.

BC started the third set by winning the first six points and seven of the first eight overall to take command and emerge victorious by a count of 25-17. BC hit .379 and .433 over the third and fourth sets, respectively.

"BC was a great challenge for us," head coach Ahen Kim said. "We grew and learned a lot about ourselves and that is important for us. To go back out and get the win over Holy Cross was a good start to the year for us."

MATCH 2 – HOLY CROSS (1-6)
In the win over Holy Cross, sophomore Cierra Jenkins finished with six kills, eight digs, and a match-high 22 assists to go with a .462 hitting percentage. Sophomore Jilienne Widener had a match-high 12 kills for Brown and junior Kaitlyn Wong added 18 digs. Freshman Beau Vanderlaan added a match-high three blocks.

"Once we came back with our run in the first set, we never looked back," head coach Ahen Kim said. "Until then, we had been having problems protecting our runs and staying ahead, but this time we made it hard for Holy Cross to match up to us. The rest of the day, we had a couple of hot hitters and I thought Cierra (Jenkins) did a good job getting everyone involved. It made it harder for them to stop everyone all at once."

After trailing early on in the first set, Brown exploded for a 12-0 run to take a commanding 16-8 lead, with freshman Victoria Vo capping the run with a service ace. Three straight kills, including two from Widener, extended the run to 15-2 to bring the Bears' edge to 21-10, helping Brown win the set 25-13. The Bears finished the opening set with 18 kills and a .421 hitting percentage.

The teams traded points throughout the early part of the second set, locking the score at 11-11. Brown broke the stalemate with four unanswered points to take the lead for good. After alternating four consecutive points, Brown used a pair of 3-0 runs to take control late and pull away for a 25-16 set win.

The Crusaders hung tough once again to start the third set, taking an early 4-2 lead and then tying the match 6-6 before Brown took control, scoring seven of the next nine points to take a 13-8 lead. Holy Cross did not get within four points again as Brown used a .309 hitting percentage in the third set to win 25-17 and finish off the sweep.

"Yesterday's win over Bryant was a big deal," Kim said. "It was our first match in two years and to have two weeks to come together and then get a win on someone else's court was big. I was really proud of their composure and they never stopped grinding it out. They showed they have the ability to maintain their effort. You want to be a team that makes effort plays rally after rally."

Brown will open up its home slate on Tuesday evening when they welcome Bryant to the Pizzitola Sports Center. First serve is scheduled for 7 p.m. on ESPN+.