Kansas Wesleyan Women's Volleyball opened the home portion of the 2026 season with a win as the Coyotes swept Stephens College 25-17, 26-24, 25-11 in the first match of the Coyote Classic on Friday night inside Mabee Arena.
It was the first home victory for KWU coach Aubrey Wilson whose squad improved to 4-2 on the season.
The Coyotes rocketed out to a 6-0 lead to start the match behind the serve of Blair Pennington. Ivi Marcolino got the first point of the match for the Coyotes on a kill that sparked the run.
Wesleyan led 12-5 on another Marcolino kill before Stephens got back within five points at 15-10. KWU came out of a timeout and scored two points to take a 17-10 lead and pushed the lead out to 21-14 on a kill by Campbell Bohling. KWU led 24-15, but Stephens scored two points before a service error gave the set to the Coyotes.
Stephens scored the first two points of a back-and-forth second set only to see the Coyotes take an 8-4 lead after a kill by Camryn Lewis. KWU led 18-14 when Stephens made a run, tying things up at 20-all forcing a KWU timeout. The Coyotes used a 4-1 run after the timeout to set up a set point try, but Stephens scored three straight to tie things up at 24-all. Avery Conner and Marcolino would end the set with back-to-back kills to send things in the favor of the Coyotes.
The Stars again took a 2-0 lead to start the third set, but the Coyotes rallied again taking a 10-5 lead on a kill by Bohling. KWU led 13-9 when the Coyotes took over. Conner started the run with a kill to make it 14-9 and the Coyotes would embark on a 6-0 run to take a 20-9 lead before Stephens could score again. Wesleyan ended the match with three straight kills by Shelby Davidson and two from Aidyn Lagergren to win the third set 25-11, closing the set on a 12-2 run.
Ryan Pennington paced the Coyotes with 13 kills, kitting .458 in the match, while Bohling had 12 assists. KWU hit .316 as a team for the match. Blair Pennington had 23 assists and Giovanna Ishii had 13 in her debut with the Coyotes. Bohling had 14 digs and Blair Pennington had 10.
The Coyote Classic continues on Saturday inside Mabee Arena with four matches starting at 9 a.m. Ottawa takes on Oklahoma City in the first match, followed by Stephens taking on Ottawa at 11 a.m. KWU and Stephens will then play a developmental match at 1 p.m., followed by the final match of the day at 3 p.m. between KWU and Oklahoma City.