BARTLESVILLE, Okla. – Kansas Wesleyan Women's Volleyball put forth a valiant effort but came up short in a straight set loss to No. 9 ranked and KCAC fourth-seeded Oklahoma Wesleyan – 22-25, 28-30, 20-25 – on Tuesday in the KCAC Tournament Quarterfinals at the Mueller Sports Center.
The loss ends KWU's season at 14-14 overall.
OKWU had a 7-3 lead in the first set but the Coyotes were right there, eventually tying things up at 15. OKWU regained an 18-16 lead, and advantage proved to be too much for the Coyotes. KWU got within a point twice, the last time at 21-20 on a block by
Camryn Lewis and
Joey Pennington, but could not draw even.
The second set was tied at 5 when OKWU scored four straight to take a 9-5 lead. The Eagles later pushed the lead out to 19-13 when the Coyotes got things going. Six straight points by the Coyotes started by a kill by
Gianna Adriaanse and capped by a kill by
Kylee Harris tied things at 19 all.
OKWU took another brief lead but the Coyotes bounced back getting a service ace by
Ryan Pennington to have first chance at set point. OKWU would tie it, but a
Joey Pennington kill would again give the Coyotes set point. Another
Joey Pennington kill gave KWU yet another set point at 26-25, but OKWU would score two to take a 27-26 lead. OKWU toggled with set point twice before a kill by Adriaanse tied it at 28. OKWU would close out the set with two points.
KWU led 11-10 in the third and later pushed the lead out to 16-13 on a kill by Lewis, but OKWU followed with four straight to take a 17-16 lead. Another Lewis kill tied it again, but OKWU again scored four straight to lead 21-17.
The Coyotes got two straight to make it 21-19, but OKWU scored the next three to have match point at 24-19. After a KWU point, the Eagles would score to close it out.
Joey Pennington led the Coyotes with 13 kills, Adriaanse had 10 and
Rylee Serpan had eight for the Coyotes who hit .192 as a team.
Blair Pennington had 17 assists and
Sara Bebout had 18.
Tristyn Hedman had 12 digs and
Malia Smith had 10. Lewis had a solo block and four assisted blocks.
