Kansas Wesleyan Women's Volleyball wasn't about to lose its final home game of the season inside Mabee Arena.
Trailing two sets to one to the Avila Eagles, the Coyotes came to life offensively, hitting .338 over the final two sets to rally for a 18-25, 25-19, 18-25, 25-12, 15-11 thrilling five-set win on Friday night.
The victory also keeps the Coyotes in the hunt for the final playoff spot in the KCAC tournament. KWU needs to win one of its two matches next week at Bethel on Wednesday and at Friends next Saturday to guarantee a spot in the eight-team tournament.
KWU trailed 4-2 to start the match but a 5-0 run by the Coyotes capped by back-to-back service aces by Ryan Pennington gave KWU a 7-4 lead. Avila drew event at 9-9 as the teams traded points back-and-forth. A kill by Pennington tied the set at 13 before Avila went on a 4-0 run to lead 17-13. The Coyotes couldn't get any closer than three the rest of the set.
Avila led 2-1 to start the second set when the Coyotes got things going. A block by Aidyn Lagergren and Pennington sparked a 6-0 KWU run to make it 7-2 KWU. Avila got back within two before the Coyotes got two points to lead 9-5. Avila tied it at 9 before the Coyotes got three straight to lead 12-9. After Avila scored a point, the Coyotes rattled off the next five to lead 17-10 on Paitlynn Martin's service ace. It was 20-16 when the Coyotes put a three-point run together to lead 23-16 on a service ace by Malia Smith ahead of the Coyotes taking the set.
The Eagles led 7-2 to start the third set but the Coyotes came back and got within a point at 7-6 on a Camryn Lewis kill and tied it at 8 on a kill by Ivi Marcolino. Avila got the next four to lead 12-8. KWU got back within a point at 16-15 but a 5-0 Avila run made it 21-15 and the Coyotes couldn't rally.
After the third set, the Coyotes found some inspiration jetting out to an 8-1 lead to start the set. After Avila scored a point, the Coyotes scored the next eight points to lead 16-2 on a kill by Marcolino. Avila got back within a 17-7 margin and trailed 22-12 when the Coyotes scored the last three points of the set capped by Lagergren's kill.
Avila let 4-2 in the deciding set but the Coyotes came back and took a 6-5 lead on Marcolino's kill. A block by Lagergren and Avery Conner gave the Coyotes an 8-6 lead which proved to be just enough of an advantage. KWU led 11-8 when Avila got two points to make it 11-10, and again were within a point at 12-11 when the Coyotes closed out the match scoring the last three points for the win.
Marcolino paced the Coyotes with 16 kills while Campbell Bohling had 10 and Pennington had nine. Giovanna Ishii had 29 assists, eight kills and led the Coyotes with 20 digs. Tristyn Hedman had 18 digs and Smith had 14. Conner had six assist blocks. Harley Ludacka added 15 assists.