Kansas Wesleyan's dominant victory over Central Christian in the opening match of the Coyote Classic on Friday afternoon provided a mix of good news and bad news.

The good news was KWU steamrolled the Tigers 3-0 (25-12, 25-6, 25-13) in Mabee Arena but soon realized the match against St. Ambrose Friday night in Muir Gymnasium was not going to be nearly as easy. The Coyotes won 3-2 (24-26, 26-28, 25-16, 25-15, 15-9) but had to stage a furious rally after losing the first two sets.

"I told my guys when we played Graceland a while back the only thing better than a 3-0 sweep is a reverse sweep when you're down 2-0," coach Dustin Sahlmann said. "That's what they learned and they fought back and got it done."

St. Ambrose came to town with a 1-19 record but defeated Simpson 3-0 before playing KWU. The Coyotes (8-7) were at match point once in the first set and twice in the second but couldn't close either out.

"A little bit of it is them thinking when we play a match like we played early on that everybody plays at that level," Sahlmann said. "It's trying to get them to understand that we've got to start from the beginning and finish through the entire 25 points. It took them a little while to get that right and when we got it right, we were fine."

Sahlmann said he didn't change anything after the first two sets.

"It was them," he said. "Jules (assistant coach Julianna Yanez) and I say the same thing on the bench during time outs, in between sets … it's the guys wanting to get it done."

Wesleyan plays Simpson (Iowa) at noon Saturday inside Mabee Arena then takes on Morningside at 2:30 in Muir Gymnasium.

KWU 3, CENTRAL CHRISTIAN 0

The Coyotes cruised past the Tigers fueled by a sizzling .434 hitting percentage. It was their third victory over the Tigers this season.

Zayin Martinez had eight kills on eight attempts while Justin Burras had eight kills and hit .462 percent. Viet Nguyen had seven on a .333 percentage and Colin Lindo six on a .273 percentage. Tyler McUne set things up with 20 assists and Jeremy Lapeze led the defensive effort with 11 digs.

Central Christian hit minus-.151 percent and had 10 total kills.

The Coyotes started the first set with a 14-3 run. A 5-0 surge made it 21-7 and after Central Christian got within 21-11 KWU closed it out with a final 4-1 burst.

The second set was more of the same as the Coyotes bolted to a 12-3 advantage. Leading 16-6 they scored the final nine points with McUne on the serve.

It was the same scenario in the third set as KWU scored the first nine points. A 7-2 Central run made it 11-7 but the Coyotes pulled away with an 11-2 run and led 22-9.

KWU 3, ST. AMBROSE 2

The Coyotes led the first set 23-18 but SAU tied it with five unanswered points. An attack error gave KWU a 24-23 lead but the Fighting Bees scored the last three points for the victory.

Wesleyan was at match point 24-23 and 26-25 in the second set but St. Ambrose again scored the final three for the victory and 2-0 lead.

The Coyotes didn't leave anything to chance the rest of the way. Clinging to a 9-8 lead in the third set they went on a 13-5 run and led 22-13. SAU got no closer than eight the rest of the way.

Wesleyan led the fourth set 11-2 but St. Ambrose rallied and got within three twice, the second time 15-12, before the Coyotes slammed the door with a closing 10-3 run.

KWU led the fifth set 5-1 but St. Ambrose battled back and tied it 9-9. After a St. Ambrose ballhandling error gave the Coyotes a 10-9 lead Jeremy Lapeze took the serve and KWU scored the final five points.

Wesleyan hit .238 percent for the match and was led by Martinez's 17 kills while hitting .484 percent. Nguyen had 11 kills, Burras nine and Colin Lindo and Ryan Wagner seven each. McUne handed out 39 assists while Lapeze had 20 digs and Nguyen 12. Lindo had six block assists, Cooper and Wagner five each.

The 6-foot-9 Wagner was force at the net in the final three sets.

"He banged his knee on a rock and was out for a while," Sahlmann said. "Now he's finally back where he needs to be. We've got four guys in the middle that can play and he's one of the four that can help us."