LINDSBORG – Kansas Wesleyan Volleyball faced two of the top teams in the Kansas Conference on Saturday in Bethany and Ottawa at Bethany's Hahn Gym in a triangular. The Coyotes had some outstanding efforts on the court, but came up just short in both matches.
BETHANY 3, KWU 2 (18-25, 25-18, 20-25, 25-23, 8-15): The Coyotes and Swedes went the distance in the match, but it was Bethany would win in five sets.
The opening set was tied 7-7 when Bethany would score 11 straight points to take an 18-7 lead in the set. The Coyotes would bounce back and fight off four set point tries before Bethany took the first set.
Wesleyan jumped out to a 16-8 lead in the second set, and led 23-13 after back-to-back kills by Maddy Beckett (SO/Halstead, Kan.), but Bethany would come back and get within five at 23-18 before the Coyotes would score the final two points to win the set.
A late run by Bethany allowed the Swedes to take the third set. Bethany led in the fourth set, but the Coyotes would tie things up at 17 and a kill by Alexis Utz (FR/Kansas City, Mo.) game KWU the lead at 19-18. Bethany came back and took a 23-22 lead, but the Coyotes got kills by Morgan Bryand (SO/Wichita, Kan.) and two more by Beckett to win the set and force a fifth.
Bethany jumped out to a 9-3 lead in the fifth as they won the set and match.
Beckett had a monster match with 25 kills while hitting .310. Elizabeth Hardacre (SO/Kensington, Kan.) added 12 kills. Cortney Hanna (SO/Lawrence, Kan.) had 28 assists and Josie Deckinger (FR/Wichita, Kan.) had 23. Emily Monson (SO/Cheney, Kan.) had 21 digs in the match, while Beckett made it a double-double day with 14. Hardacre had five blocks as did Utz. Ryann Kats (JR/Prairie View, Kan.) had four blocks.
OTTAWA 3, KWU 1 (20-25, 27-29, 25-20, 11-25): The Coyotes had a quick turn-around facing Ottawa next.
Wesleyan built a 16-13 lead in the opening set, but Ottawa came back and took a 19-18 lead and pushed its advantage out to 23-18 before taking the first set.
The Coyotes raced out to a 10-3 lead in the second set, but Ottawa came back to tie things up at 19. The match was tight the rest of the way. KWU had a chance at set point after a block but Ottawa would tie it up at 24, KWU had two more chances before Ottawa was able to get the final two points of the set to win the volleyball overtime set 29-27.
Wesleyan got the win in the third set, but the Coyotes ran into trouble in the final set as Ottawa closed things out in four sets.
Becket was huge again for the Coyotes with 22 kills while hitting .224 in the match. She also added six digs. Hanna had 21 assists and Deckinger 18. Monson had an incredible 36 digs in the match.
KWU now has two weeks off to prepare for its regular season finale triangular on March 20 when the Coyotes host Southwestern and Oklahoma Wesleyan at Mabee Arena.
--kwucoyotes.com--