STERLING - Kansas Wesleyan faced Mission University and Sterling College in a triangular event on Wednesday inside the Gleason Center. The Coyotes picked up straight set wins in both matches.
The Coyotes picked up a 25-15, 25-19, 25-22 over Mission, and opened Kansas Conference play with a 25-15, 25-20, 25-21 win over Sterling.
It took a little bit for the Coyotes to get going in the first set with Mission, formerly known as Baptist Bible College, before things turned in KWU's favor. KWU led 8-6 when the Coyotes would rattle off five of the next six to take a 13-7 lead. It was 18-13 Coyotes when KWU scored five straight to make it 23-13 on the way to the 25-15 win.
KWU led 19-10 in the second set before Mission scored four straight to make it 19-14 but the Patriots never got closer than five the rest of the set.
The Coyotes had to come from behind in the third set. Mission had a 9-8 lead in the set when the Coyotes turned up the intensity and scored the next four and nine of the next 10 to take a 17-10 lead. The Patriots made it close at 21-19, and again at 24-22 before the Coyotes closed it out.
KWU hit an impressive .362 for the match with 49 total kills. Kylee Harris had 13 and Rylee Serpan had 10. Josie Deckinger had 27 assists and Marti Strickert had 12. Kori Arnold had 16 digs.
KWU then faced Sterling in a Kansas Conference match with the Coyotes victorious in straight sets.
The opening set was back and forth to start with both teams trading the lead until the Coyotes pulled out to an 18-11 lead in the set. Sterling fought back to make it 19-15, but the Coyotes closed the set with six straight points including three aces by freshman Tristyn Hedman to close the set.
In the second set, the Coyotes jumped out to an early lead and held the Warriors at arm's length to come away with the 25-20 win in the set.
The third set was tied 10-10 when Sterling scored four straight points to take a 14-10 lead. After a KWU timeout, Rylee Serpan got the Coyotes going with a kill and KWU tied it up at 17-all on a block by Deckinger and Harris.
Sterling took a brief 18-17 lead before KWU got four straight points capped by Gianna Adriaanse's kill to make it 21-18. From there, the Coyotes closed it out for the match win.
Serpan led the Coyotes with 16 kills, hitting .448 for the match while Harris had 12 kills, Kate Bebout had 11 and Adriaanse seven as KWU hit .336 as a team in the match. KWU had 37 assists from Deckinger as the Coyotes ran a 5-1 offense in the match. Kate Bebout had 12 digs in the match while Arnold had nine.