The Kansas Wesleyan men's volleyball team is on a roll.
The Coyotes won their third consecutive match with a sweep of Graceland 25-18, 25-13, 25-16 on Saturday afternoon inside Mabee Arena. KWU improved to 7-7, 3-4 in the Heart of America Conference. Graceland fell to 2-13 and 0-8.
"That would be a nice way to play every match, but we know they aren't all like that," coach Dustin Sahlmann said. "But today was a good day."
The Coyotes hit at a sizzling .413 percentage while Graceland hit minus-.012 percent. Ryan Wagner, a sophomore opposite side hitter, had 10 kills with a scorching .917 hitting percentage. Zayin Martinez added nine kills on a .538 hitting percentage,
Justin Burras had seven and freshman setter Ethan Ricketts had 29 assists.
Defensively Burras had nine digs and Jeremy Lapeze seven.
"I thought that the energy could have been better but the intensity level and the ability to continue to do what we train during practice translated over really well today," Sahlmann said. "And I thought we were pretty efficient."
The Coyotes took control of the opening set with an 8-2 run that gave them an 18-11 lead. They closed it out on a Wagner kill.
Leading 7-6 in the second set KWU pulled away with another long run, this one 16-3, and led 23-9.
Graceland got within 16-12 in the third set, but the Coyotes scored seven of the next nine points and ended the set and match on Wagner's final kill.
"He had a huge change of mentality when he showed up in the fall and that's stayed pretty consistent," Sahlmann said of Wagner, "and as many 6-9 guys as you can put on the court is a benefit. It's nice to have him out there."
The Coyotes play Ottawa on Tuesday at Ottawa before home matches against No. 4-ranked Missouri Baptist on Friday and University Health Science and Pharmacy on Saturday - both in Mabee Arena.