The Kansas Wesleyan Women's Volleyball team pulled off an upset for the ages on Friday night as the Coyotes upset No. 6 ranked Oklahoma Wesleyan University in four sets in front of a wild and raucous crowd inside Mabee Arena.
The Coyotes won the opening set 25-21, then dropped the second 25-20. The third set was a battle as the Coyotes came away with a 28-26 win, and then capped the victory with a 25-21 win.
KWU set the tone early jetting out to a 6-0 lead in the first set, capping the run with a service ace by Josie Deckinger. The Eagles got back into the set, tying it at 12 on a kill by Evelyn Rohrberg. Rylee Serpan put down a kill to give KWU a 13-12 lead. The Coyotes stretched the lead out to 17-14 on Gianna Adriaanse's kill. OKWU got back within two at 23-21 before the Coyotes closed it out, winning the set on a solo block by Gianna Adriaanse.
OKWU turned the tables early in the second set, taking a 4-0 lead to start. The Coyotes got back within a point at 7-6 on a block from Kate Bebout and Josie Deckinger, but the Eagles pushed out to an 11-7 lead in the set. KWU fell behind by five at 16-11, but got back within two point at 21-19 on Kori Arnold's service ace.
KWU jumped out to a 4-0 lead to start the third set, but a 5-point run in the set gave OKWU a 17-14 lead in the set. Back came the Coyotes, scoring the next four to take an 18-17 lead on Rylee Serpan's kill. The teams traded the lead several times from there, with OKWU taking a 23-22 lead and then led again at 24-23 on a Rohrberg kill. A kill by Serpan tied it up at 24-all, but the Eagles again had a set point at 25-24. A kill by Adriaanse tied it at 25, and then the Eagles took the lead again at 26-25. After that it was all Coyotes. Back to back hitting errors by the Eagles gave KWU set point, and then a huge block by Adriaanse and Kate Bebout closed the set out in KWU's favor in volleyball overtime 28-26.
The Coyotes led wire-to-wire in the final set, taking an early 4-1 lead and pushing the difference out to 10-4 on a kill by Kylee Harris. OKWU got within a point at 15-14 but three straight points from the Coyotes capped by Kate Bebout's service ace made it 18-14 KWU. A block by Serpan and Kyla Moore extended Wesleyan's lead to 22-16. It was 24-19 Coyotes after Rylee Serpan's kill and after two OKWU points, the Coyotes closed it out with a kill from Kate Bebout.
Five Coyotes reached double figures in kills as Adriaanse and Serpan had 16 each. Bebout and Harris had 12 each and Moore added 11. KWU hit .317 as a team. Deckinger finished with 54 assists and had 19 digs. Kori Arnold had 17 digs. Deckinger also had four service aces. Bebout had three blocks.