KWU Sports Information
Kansas Wesleyan men's volleyball split its home-opening triangular on Wednesday in matches against Missouri Valley and Central Christian.
The Coyotes went toe-to-toe with Missouri Valley, who was receiving votes in the NAIA Coaches Poll in the first match, falling in four sets to the Vikings.
"I thought we really tried to stick to the game plan against Missouri Valley," KWU coach Dustin Sahlmann said. "We had great energy, we didn't get down or act tired when things got tight, and didn't go our way. We showed a lot of growth tonight in that aspect."
The Coyotes then swept Central Christian in the final match of the night, giving Sahlmann his first career win at KWU.
"It's always nice to get the win, especially in a sweep," Sahlmann said, who is in his first season leading the Coyotes. "We got to play some extra guys and that will help us too as the season goes."
It was a slow start for the Coyotes in the sweep of Central Christian, as KWU won 25-15, 25-12, 25-13.
KWU trailed out of the gates in the opening set 4-2, before grabbing the lead at 6-5 on a kill by Jalen Watt (FR/South Hadley, Mass.). A service ace by Andy Tran (FR/San Jose, Calif.) and a kill by Kahlib Lawrence (FR/Burbank, Calif.) gave KWU an 8-5 lead. It was 8-7 in favor of the Coyotes when KWU got things going.
A 12-3 run by the Coyotes made it 20-10 in the set. The Tigers got no closer than six the rest of the way before KWU closed things out scoring the final four points of the set.
KWU never trailed in the second set, using a 14-6 run to turn a 7-4 advantage in the a 21-10 lead.
KWU trailed 5-4 in the third when the Coyotes went on a 4-0 run to take an 8-5 lead. KWU built the margin out to 20-10 on Viet Nguyen (SO/Wichita, Kan.)'s kill and Tran recorded an ace to end the match.
Nguyen had nine kills to lead the Coyotes, while Lawrence had eight and Burras and Lindo had six each in the win. KWU had 10 service aces led by four from Tran. Marcus Taylor had 23 assists. Jeremy Lapeze (FR/Burbank, Calif.) had 11 digs.
The Coyotes went four sets with Missouri Valley in the first match of the day. The Vikings got a win in the opening set 25-22, before the Coyotes came back and won the second 25-18. Valley was able to win the third and fourth 25-23, 25-22, respectively to claim the match.
Sahlmann was pleased with his team's effort in the match.
"I knew they were bigger than us, and you look at their roster and it's a little intimidating," Sahlmann said. "But I told our guys if we came out and served aggressively and passed well so we can run our offense that things would go well for us, and that's what we did. We just had a few too many missed serves at the end that didn't allow us to get into position to win."
Wesleyan trailed 10-9 in the opening set, but MVC scored five straight making it 15-9. Trailing 16-11, the Coyotes drew some momentum, drawing even with the Vikings 16-16 after a pair of Jeremy Lapeze service aces and a kill by Nguyen.
KWU again tied it at 19, before Valley took a 24-20 lead. KWU scored the next two, but could not complete the rally.
Wesleyan jumped out to a 5-1 second set lead and built a 14-7 lead in the set. The Coyotes were able to keep Missouri Valley at bay, getting the 25-18 set win.
"Our libero (Jeremy Lapeze) did a fantastic job in serve receive, he was reading things defensively," Sahlmann said. "Justin Burras (FR/Burbank, Calif.) had to shoulder a lot of the load and did a good job with that, and I thought both of our middles (Kahlib "Pucky" Lawrence and Colin Lindo (JR/Las Vegas, Nev.)) played very well tonight."
The third set was close the entire time. KWU trailed 20-17 before battling back to tie it at 23 on a kill by Nguyen. MVC would score the final two points to take the set.
The Coyotes led late in the fourth, 20-19, but couldn't hold on, falling behind 24-21 before dropping the final set 25-22.
Burras had 12 kills to lead the Coyotes, while Nguyen added 10. Taylor had 30 assists and six digs. Lapeze had six aces and nine digs in the match. Lindo had seven blocks, three solo, in the match.
The Coyotes are back in action on Friday at home, hosting Ottawa in a GPAC conference match-up. First serve set for 7 p.m., inside Mabee Arena. Sahlmann says the game plan for Ottawa will be similar to Missouri Valley.
"Ottawa is really solid over the middle. We have to make sure we stick to our assignments and block well and get them out of system," he said. "We have to hit our serves and pass well."