LEAVENWORTH – Kansas Wesleyan Women's Volleyball headed to the Ryan Sports Center on Saturday to take on the University of Saint Mary Spires. Saint Mary would come away with the four-set win over the Coyotes – 25-23, 22-25, 13-25, 22-25.
 
Saint Mary took an early 5-2 lead in the first set and held off several charges by the Coyotes trying to come back. Wesleyan trailed 23-21 when the Coyotes finally made their move. Kills from Joey Pennington and Avery Conner tied the set at 23-all and forced a Saint Mary timeout. After the break, the Coyotes got back-to-back kills by Gianna Adriaanse to come away with the 25-23 win.
 
In the second set, the Coyotes held the early lead and held off several runs by Saint Mary. KWU led 10-7 in the set and later 14-11 when Saint Mary made its first move. The Spires got three straight to tie things up at 14, but a kill from Conner kept the lead for the Coyotes. Wesleyan took a 22-18 lead in the set but Saint Mary got things going then, scoring the final seven points of the set to win 25-22.
 
The Spires continued to ride the momentum into the third set, taking a 5-1 lead. KWU battled back and got within two at 9-7, but an 8-2 run by Saint Mary made it 17-9. Saint Mary continued to pull away and came away with the 25-13 win.
 
Down 3-1, the Coyotes would score five straight to take a 6-3 lead and extended the advantage to 10-5. KWU led 18-14 when Saint Mary started to press back. The Spires got within a point at 19-18 and then used a three-point spurt to take a 21-20 lead. A point for the Coyotes tied it, but Saint Mary scored four of the final five to take the match.
 
Rylee Serpan and Joey Pennington had 12 kills each for the Coyotes. Sara Bebout had 25 assists and Blair Pennington had 14. Malia Smith had 16 digs while Tristyn Hedman had 14 and Ella Schmid and Sara Bebout had 10 each.
 
The Coyotes will be back in action at home twice next week, hosting Tabor on Wednesday and Ottawa on Friday.