KWU Athletics
OTTAWA – Kansas Wesleyan men's volleyball returned to action on Wednesday in a Great Plains Athletic Conference match with the Ottawa Braves. After dropping the first set, the Coyotes took the second set before eventually falling to the Braves 25-15, 24-26, 25-15, 25-11 at Wilson Field House.
Wesleyan (1-11, 1-5 GPAC) trailed 9-8 in the second set, but scored six straight points to take a 14-9 lead in the set on Victor Loya (SO/El Paso, Texas)'s service ace. A block by Loya later extended Wesleyan's lead to 20-13.
Viet Nguyen (FR/Wichita, Kan.)'s kill gave the Coyotes set point at 24-21 but Ottawa scored the next three to tie it at 24-all. Back-to-back hitting errors by Ottawa would give Wesleyan the two points it needed to claim the second set 26-24.
In the opening set, Wesleyan trailed by just two points at 17-15 when Ottawa closed the set on an 8-0 run to win 25-15.
The third set was tied 4-4 early, but a 6-1 run from Ottawa was all the momentum the Braves needed as the Coyotes couldn't bounce back, falling in the set 25-15.
Ottawa raced out to an 11-1 lead in the fourth set and never looked back taking the set 25-11.
Christopher Perez (FR/Denver, Colo.) led the Coyotes with nine kills while Loya and Nguyen had six each. Colton Sessions (FR/West Palm Beach, Fla.) had 15 assists and seven digs. Loya added nine digs, three aces and three blocks.
Two more matches remain on Wesleyan's month-long road schedule at Dordt on Thursday in Sioux Center, Iowa and at No. 6 ranked Jamestown on Saturday.
KWU returns to Mabee Arena on March 2 to take on Central Christian. KWU swept the Tigers on Feb. 8 to pick up the program's first-ever match victory.