The Kansas Wesleyan men's volleyball team couldn't have asked for a better start in their match against Morningside. The Coyotes won the first two sets and looked good doing so.
 

The finish, though, was less than desirable. Morningside pulled away late in the third and fourth sets then controlled the fifth set for a 3-2 Great Plains Athletic Conference victory (17-25, 19-25, 25-20, 25-19, 15-9) Saturday afternoon inside Mabee Arena.

The Coyotes (12-12, 3-6 GPAC) were coming off a thrilling 3-2 victory over Ottawa on Friday night in Mabee Arena.

"(Morningside) didn't do anything any different from set one to set two to set three and four," KWU coach Dustin Sahlmann said. "We definitely did not have enough gas because we wasted so much energy last night that we weren't as fresh as we needed to be and it showed with our decision making."

KWU hit just .094 percent and Morningside .122 percent. The Mustangs (15-12, 6-2 GPAC) defeated winless Central Christian 3-0 Friday in McPherson. Wesleyan plays Central Christian in the regular season finale at 6 p.m. Tuesday in Mabee Arena.

The Coyotes used a 6-0 run in taking a 13-8 lead in the first set. Morningside got within 19-17 but KWU scored the final six points for the victory – Zay Martinez's kill accounting for set point.

Trailing 17-16 in the second set, Wesleyan scored seven consecutive points with Justin Burras serving. Morningside scored twice before a Martinez kill, and Jeremy Lapeze service ace ended it.

The Coyotes led the third set 15-14 when the tide turned. The Mustangs went on a 6-1 surge and led 20-16. KWU got within 21-18 before Morningside scored four the final six points.

Trailing 17-15 in the fourth set the Coyotes pulled even 18-18 on a Martinez kill but Morningside scored seven of the next eight points for the victory.

Morningside led 7-2 in the fifth set, but KWU got within 7-5 with three consecutive points. Leading 8-6 the Mustangs pulled away once again with a 5-1 rally that made it 14-7. The Coyotes scored twice before Morningside tallied match point.

Martinez led KWU with 13 kills while Viet Nguyen had 10 and Kahlib Lawrence nine. Tyler McUne had 35 assists. Defensively five Coyotes had double figure digs led by Burras with 14. Lapeze and McUne had 12 apiece Jose Pina-Garcia and Nguyen 11 each. Lawrence led the way with six block assists.

A victory would have given the Coyotes a first-round match against Central Christian in the first round of the GPAC Tournament on Saturday, April 13 in Mabee Arena. With the loss KWU will play Ottawa on April 13 in Mabee Arena. The Braves and Coyotes split their two matches this season, each winning at home.