ST. LOUIS - Kansas Wesleyan Men's Volleyball got its first Heart of America Conference win in program history as the Coyotes won a five-set thriller with University of Health Sciences and Pharmacy on Saturday.
The Coyotes won the first set 25-22, the third 25-23 and the fifth 17-15 while UHSP won the second 26-24 and the fourth 25-20.
Wesleyan had a 5-2 lead in the first set but UHSP came back to take an 8-6 lead. Five straight by the Coyotes capped by Jeremy Lapeze's service ace made it 11-8 Coyotes and a later service ace by Justin Burras pushed Wesleyan's lead out to 15-11.
The Coyotes led 21-16 when the Eutectics scored four straight to get within a point at 21-20. A kill by Jaron Lindsay gave KWU set point at 24-21, and two points later the Coyotes had it on a block by Ryan Wagner.
KWU led 10-6 in the second set but UHSP came back and tied it at 13-all. Each team rattled off three straight points to keep things tied at 16-all. KWU led 19-18 when UHSP rattled off four straight points to take a 22-19 lead. The Coyotes came back and tied it at 22 on a kill by Lindsay, and held off a UHSP set point with a kill by Zayin Martinez, but the Eutectics scored the final two points of the set to win 26-24.
KWU trailed 9-8 in the third set, but scored the next three points to take an 11-9 lead. UHSP had the lead again at 14-13 when the Coyotes scored three straight to take a 16-14 lead. Wesleyan stretched the lead to 20-17 but UHSP took a 23-22 lead. The Coyotes scored the final three points of the set capping it on a kill by Wagner to win the set.
UHSP took a 7-1 lead in the fourth set, and pushed its lead out to 15-5 but the Coyotes fought back. Trailing 16-6, the Coyotes scored 11 straight points to take a 17-16 lead on a kill by Cooper Stepp. UHSP took a 19-17 lead and pushed the difference out to 23-20 and the Coyotes couldn't rally dropping the fourth set.
The Coyotes trailed 10-6 in the fifth, but were not to be denied. KWU was down 12-8 when the Coyotes rattled off four in a row to tie things up at 12. UHSP had match point at 14-13, but the Coyotes tied it at 14, then again at 15, before scoring the last two points of the match to claim the win.
Justin Burras had 17 kills to lead the Coyotes while Stepp added 11 and Martinez and Lindsay had 10 each. Ethan Ricketts had 53 assists. Wagner had 8 blocks while Stepph had six. Lapeze had 23 digs while Burras had 15 and Bradley Neff had 10.