Brookhaven Volleyball Sweeps NJCAA Quarterfinal Match
Dallas College Brookhaven's No. 4-ranked volleyball team swept No. 8 Minnesota State Community and Technical College, 25-22, 25-18, 25-15, in the National Junior College Athletic Association Division III quarterfinals Thursday in Rochester, Minnesota.
The Bears (24-9) will play No. 2 Owens Community College (28-6) in Friday's 5 p.m. CT semifinals.
Brookhaven won its 16th straight match, overcoming 19 Minnesota State C&TC kills in the opening set, while matching the Spartans with a .333 attack percentage in the second to take a pivotal lead into the third. The Bears outhit Minnesota State Community & Technical College, .276 to .269 in a match where the Spartans had seven more kills than Brookhaven.
@BCBearsDen takes the third set against @AthleticsMstate and move on! #NJCAAVB ��https://t.co/O3OqYVnNrZ pic.twitter.com/ArH0nn3esb
— NJCAA Network (@NJCAANetwork) November 11, 2022
Ariel Austin finished with 10 kills, two aces and a block, while hitting .308, becoming the Bears lone attacker with double-digit kills. Kelsey Trevino had seven kills in 21 swings, and added two aces. Madison Beasley had seven kills, hit .545, and combined on a block. Jordan Bruscato had 20 assists, Camryn Dawley added 11, and Jadyn Ketner had 11 of Brookhaven's 40 digs.
Bruscato's ace late in the first set put the Bears ahead, 21-19, during a 4-0 crucial run that prompted two Spartans timeouts. Trevino's kill on a setup from Bruscato gave Brookhaven a three-point separation. MSTCC closed within 23-21 on Emily Dehler's kill. But after both sides swapped the next two points, Austin pounded home the set clincher to give the Bears a 1-0 lead in the match.
Dehler finished with seven kills, while Kaleigh Sip had 12 for the Spartans.
Brookhaven ran off the first five points in the second set, and after Minnesota State C&TC cut it to 8-5, the Bears had another five-point spurt that bumped the lead to 13-5. Beasley's putaway gave Brookhaven the eight-point advantage. Austin pounded a kill as the Bears doubled up the lead, 18-9.
The Spartans drew within four on a Brookhaven hitting error, but Austin's kill on an assist from Dawley pushed the Bears back on top by six. Following a Spartans' sideout on Lindsey Kurz's block, Trevino had a kill on a ball from Ketner to make it 23-17. Sip and Kurz combined on a block on the next serve, but Asia Salter and Beasley's back-to-back kills put the set in the books for the Bears to make it a 2-0 match lead.
Brookhaven opened up a 12-5 lead in the final set on a kill by Trevino. Austin's ace extended the lead to 18-11 before the Spartans cut the deficit to four by winning the next three points. Ketner served the Bears to a 23-14 lead, and Bruscato's ace sealed the win.
Minnesota State Community & Technical College had five blocks to Brookhaven's five, but the Bears ripped off 13 aces to the Spartans' four.
The win was Brookhaven's first in the winner's bracket first match at the national tournament since the Bears beat Central Lakes College-Brainerd on Nov. 14, 2019, also in Rochester, Minnesota.