BELLEVUE, Neb. – Kansas Wesleyan Women's Volleyball dropped a pair of matches on Saturday to No. 8 ranked Bellevue and Dakota State in a triangular hosted by Bellevue University.
In the first match of the day, KWU faced Dakota State, who the Coyotes played in last year's NAIA Opening Round match-up. The Trojans would take the match in straight sets 25-18, 25-17, 25-21.
KWU fell behind 9-5 in the first set but scored four straight to tie things up at 9-9. The teams traded points back and forth until a 5-1 run by DSU made it 19-15. The Coyotes never got closer than three points the rest of the set as DSU closed it out on a 4-1 run.
Dakota State raced out to a 7-1 lead to start the second set and extended the lead out to 17-5. It was 20-9 in favor of the Trojans when KWU scored five straight to make it 20-14, but couldn't continue the rally, dropping the set.
The Coyotes trailed 8-3 in the third, but came back to tie it at 8-8. DSU led 11-10 when the Trojans scored three in a row to take a 14-10 lead and pushed the lead out to 19-14. The Coyotes got back within two at 19-17 but got no closer the rest of the way.
Kate Bebout had 11 kills and
Rylee Serpan added 10.
Tristyn Hedman had 17 digs of the Coyotes.
Josie Deckinger had 26 assists in the match.
Against No. 8 Bellevue, the Coyotes fell in straight sets 25-14, 25-16, 25-17.
KWU led 5-3 in the opening set, but Bellevue came back to take an 8-6 lead. It was tied 9-9 when Bellevue ran off seven straight points to take a 16-9 lead. It was 17-11 when the Bruins scored six in a row to take a 23-12 lead before taking the set 25-14.
It was 6-5 in favor of Bellevue in the second when the Bruins scored five straight to take an 11-5 lead. A later 5-1 run made it 18-10 as the Coyotes couldn't get closer than five points the rest of the set.
Wesleyan led 8-6 in the third set and it was close over the next stretch at it was tied 15-15 when Bellevue scored five straight points to take a 20-15 lead. It was 21-17 Bellevue when the Bruins closed out the match with four straight points.
Kylee Harris and Serpan had 10 kills each. Deckinger had 15 assists and
Marti Strickert added seven as KWU ran a 6-2 offense in the match.
Kate Bebout and Hedman had 11 digs each.
Two more matches remain in Wesleyan's nearly month-long road trip as the Coyotes are at McPherson on Wednesday, and at Ottawa on Saturday. The Coyotes finally return home on October 2 to host Tabor College Bluejays inside Mabee Arena.
