CLEVELAND | After a closely contested first set, the Bryan College Lions went on long runs to defeat the Truett McConnell volleyball team Tuesday night in the Bear Cave, 3-0.

The first set was extremely tight, as both teams traded points early on. The Bears held a four-point lead twice, at 14-10 and 15-11. With the Bears leading 22-20, the Lions went on a run to tie the game at 23. The Lions won the final two points of the match to take an early 1-0 lead.

In the second set, the Lions jumped out to a 13-5 lead, but, led by Keri King and Zykeria Allen, TMU clawed back to a 14-9 deficit. Bryan responded with four straight points and cruised to a 25-16 set win.

The third set was all Bryan as they bolted to a 6-0 lead before Truett McConnell was able to score a point. The Bears responded by scoring six of the next eight to get it to 8-6, but Bryan jumped back out to a big lead, earning 10 match points. While TMU was able to fend off four of the 10, Bryan would get one final kill to seal the 3-0 win.

Allen led the Bears with six kills, while Bryan's Hannah Smith led all players with 14 kills.

The Bears will hit the road for their next eight matches, starting with three in Augusta at the Purple Paw Classic, hosted by Paine College, on Friday and Saturday. TMU will take on Morris and Paine on Friday at 6 and 8 p.m., respectively, before matching up with Concordia at noon on Saturday afternoon.