McPHERSON, Kan. - Kansas Wesleyan Men's Volleyball opened its 2026 campaign with a win, earning coach Brandon Stephenson his first men's volleyball coaching win at the collegiate level.
The Coyotes knocked off the Tigers 25-18, 23-25, 25-22, 25-15 on Tuesday night inside Jerry Alexander Arena.
Conor Williams set a new single match program record with 27 kills for the Coyotes, surpassing the previous record set by Zayin Martinez in 2024.
Wesleyan hit an impressive .301 for the match as a team.
Things went back and forth to start out, but the Coyotes pulled out to a 13-8 lead in the opening set. Central came back and got within two points, but leading 19-16, the Coyotes rattled off four straight points to take a 23-16 lead and would win the opening set 25-18.
KWU jumped out to a 3-1 lead in the second set and led 14-9, but Central used a 4-0 run to take an 18-16 lead in the set. The Coyotes tied it at 18, but couldn't close out the set. KWU had a 23-22 lead, but a service error, Wesleyan's bugaboo all evening, led to three straight Central points to give the Tigers the set 25-23.
The Coyotes trailed 11-7 in the third set, but six straight points turned things in KWU's favor with a 13-11 lead. Central would get within a point at 21-20, but got no closer as the Coyotes closed out the set 25-22.
The final set started out going back and forth again, despite KWU holding onto the lead. The Coyotes led 9-8 when the purple-clad visitors broke it open scoring eight straight points to take a 17-8 lead. After a Central point, the Coyotes scored four more to lead 21-9 and closed out the match with a Williams kill.
Dallas Manaku handed out 35 assists for the Coyotes and added eight kills. Kaleb Cui had nine kills and four service aces. Josh Kiely had nine digs for the Coyotes.