The Johnson C. Smith University volleyball squad opened its season with two losses at the USC Aiken Opening Weekend Tournament in Aiken, S.C.  The Golden Bull women lost to Lander (8-25, 10-25, 19-25) in an early afternoon matchup on Friday. JCSU fell to Barry (9-25, 16-25, 11-25) later in the afternoon to finish the day 0-2.

Lander 3, Johnson C. Smith 0

A slow start in the first set victimized JCSU. The Golden Bulls were trailing 6-0 before scoring their first point on a kill by Anteesha Smoots.  JCSU was only able to score seven more points in the set with just four kills on 22 total attempts.

Lander opened the second set with a 11-2 run to a cruise to a 25-10 win.

JCSU improved in the third set with six kills but five errors doomed any thoughts of a comeback.

For the match, the Golden Bulls were led by Taylor Smith with five kills and just one attack error.  Cydney Calhoun finished with six of the JCSU 12 assists.

Lander's Kaitlyn Krafka led all scorers with 15 kills.  Madilyn Reed recorded a game-high 33 assists.

Barry 3, Johnson C. Smith 0

Another slow start in the first set, highlighted by seven errors and just four kills left JCSU in a deep hole against Barry. The Golden Bulls fell short of a double digit score falling 25-9 in the first set.

After jumping out to a 5-2 lead in the second set, JCSU suffered through a 10-2 response from Barry to fall behind 12-7.  Barry found its groove and pushed to a 25-16 win.

The third set was all Barry. The Bucs jumped out to a 7-2 lead before closing out the set with an 11-1 run to complete the shutout.

In the match, Barry was led by Gabriela Jansen with a game-high eight kills, including the final three kills of the match. Audren Correa finished with 15 digs.

JCSU was led by Karizma Brooks with five kills.  Cydney Calhoun recorded seven assists for the Golden Bulls.

JCSU returns to action Saturday morning when the face Southern Wesleyan at 11:00 a.m. followed by a match against host USC Aiken, Saturday afternoon at 4:00p.m.