Kansas Wesleyan Women's Volleyball dropped a hard-fought four-set match with the Sterling College Warriors 25-22, 25-19, 22-25, 25-21 on Wednesday night inside a boisterous Mabee Arena.
In the opening set, the Coyotes had a 6-3 lead before Sterling came back and tied it at 6. A kill by Blair Pennington and a Campbell Bohling service ace gave the Coyotes an 8-6 lead. Sterling tied it a 9 before the Coyotes scored six of the next seven points to take a 15-10 lead. Sterling would answer back taking an 18-17 lead and led 23-19 when the Coyotes made a final push to make it 23-21 on a service ace by Blair Pennington. Ivi Marcolino's kill made it 24-22 in favor of Sterling when the Warriors would get a point to claim the set.
Sterling jumped out to a 5-1 lead to start the second set but the Coyotes battled back to tie it at 7 on back-to-back kills by Bohling. It was tied at 11 when Sterling scored three straight points to take a 14-11 lead and the Warriors pushed the lead out to 18-12. KWU got back within a point at 20-19, but Sterling scored the final five points of the set to take a 2-0 lead in the match.
KWU took an 11-8 lead in the third set, and held off several charges by the Warriors as the teams traded points back and forth. The set was tied 17 all before Sterling pushed out to a 20-18 lead. The Coyotes came back, trailing 21-19, scoring the next five to take a 24-21 lead. Sterling got a point before the Coyotes closed out the set win on a kill by Giovanna Ishii.
After scoring the first two points of the fourth, the Coyotes fell behind 5-2 to start the set. Wesleyan bounced back taking an 11-9 lead and would lead 19-17 on Bohling's kill before Sterling tied it at 19. The Coyotes got a point back to take a 20-19 lead, but Sterling scored the next five to take a 24-20 lead. KWU got a point before Sterling closed out the match.
Bohling continued to shine for the Coyotes leading the way with 19 kills while Marcolino had 13. Blair Pennington had 25 assists and 14 digs and Ishii had 23 assists and 14 digs. Paitlynn Martin had 21 digs after taking over at libero starting in the second set. Bohling also added 14 digs.