The Berea College Volleyball team took to the highway today, traveling down I-75 for a match up the Royals of Johnson University.  Like their match earlier this season, the Mountaineers won in straight sets.  Unlike the their match earlier this season, it was a struggle from the first whistle until the last point. 

The Blue Crew looked a bit sluggish off the bus in set one, struggling with their vaunted pass and serve game.  One thing that worked well was the block and those points proved to be the difference as they squeaked out a 25-23 victory.

The second set was all Berea all the time.  The Mountaineers caught fire from the get go jumping out a 6-2 and then 11-4 lead, before coming home with a strong 25-18 victory.  The third set was a repeat of the first set with BC playing catch-up the whole way.  Johnson had serve and a 23-21 lead, but couldn't close out the Mountaineers who dug deep and scored the next four points to capture the match.

Berea was led offensively by its big three of Taylor Ashworth, Simone Brown and Kyra Robinson.  Ashworth put down 12 kills to lead the way.  Brown and Robinson had six and five kills respectively, but hit a blistering .500 and .769.  

Defensively, the Blue Crew was led by Ashworth's 11 digs and Sydney Short's 10.  As has been the case all season, it was the Berea block that really came through in the clutch.  Tonight it registered 15 total blocks, with Robinson swatting away five and Alaina Fox accounting for four blocks.

The Mountaineers will have the weekend off before they make another road trip down I-75 to take on the Patriots of the University of the Cumberlands on Wednesday night.