Jessica Biegert wanted her Kansas Wesleyan volleyball team to be tested before its crucial Kansas Conference match against Tabor on Saturday in Hillsboro.
So, she arranged for Doane to come to Salina for a non-conference match Wednesday, which was KWU's bye on the KCAC schedule.
On paper it figured to be a good test for the Coyotes – Doane is ranked No. 23 in the NAIA and sporting an 18-7 record coming into the match. On the court at Mabee Arena, though, it wasn't close.
Wesleyan rolled to a 3-0 (25-202, 25-12, 25-23) victory, fueled by a balanced attack and superb defensive effort. It was the Coyotes' 11th consecutive victory – the last eight, and 10 of the last 11, by 3-0 counts.
They improved to 18-7 overall in advance of the showdown against Tabor, which lost to McPherson 3-1 Wednesday in Hillsboro. The Coyotes are 6-2 and Tabor 5-2 in conference play.
"We had fire and wanted to step up and show that we're one of the top teams in the nation," said outside hitter Morgan Bryand (JR/Wichita, Kan.), who had a team-high eight kills along with Maddy Beckett (JR/Halstead, Kan.).
Her coach agrees.
"I feel like we've found our flow and we're just picking up the momentum from the game before," Biegert said. "Our bar is high and we've been able to stay consistent at it.
"I was excited for a tough match going into Tabor just to see if there were any weakness that I'd been overlooking with weaker teams but they proved to me that they can do it against a good team. Hopefully we can keep feeding off that momentum at Tabor."
Bryand attributes the Coyotes' success to their balance. Malia Mack (JR/Joplin, Mo.) added seven kills and Chelsea James (JR/Wichita, Kan.) six.
"You can tell across the board with our stats we're really balanced," she said. "We don't typically have one player that's getting all the kills, it's between three or four different players that are getting all the kills. That's something you really don't see on other teams."
"I told them at the beginning of the year that teams that go to (NAIA) nationals are balanced, it's not a one-man show," Biegert said. "They've done a really good job of stepping up and tonight it really showed."
The Coyotes hit at a .164 percentage and Doane just .009 percent. KWU also had 17 block assists and two solo blocks.
Wesleyan scored the first seven points of the first set but Doane rallied and got within 19-18 before four consecutive points extended the lead to 23-18 lead.
The Coyotes bolted to 10-2 in the second set and closed it out by scoring the last five points for the easy victory.
The third set was tense. Doane led 21-18 but KWU tied it at 22 by scoring four of the next five points. Beckett tied it again at 23 with a kill then sealed the deal with consecutive service aces for the set and match victory.
"It was fun to see Maddy Beckett's fire and passion, swing as hard as she can when we needed points and finish the game with two aces," Biegert said. "That was good leadership from her."
Josie Deckinger (SO/Wichita, Kan.) set the offense with 19 assists while Cortney Hanna (JR/Lawrence, Kan.) had 14. Emily Monson (SR/Cheney, Kan.) and Melinna Schumann (FR/Sabetha, Kan.) led the defense with 24 and 15 digs respectively.
The Tigers were unable to produce any big scoring runs – a 4-0 burst in the first set the longest of the night.
"That's kind of what we lacked in the beginning of the year," Biegert said. "Teams would make some runs on us and so we've really focused on no more than three-point runs and they've done a really good job of holding them to that."
Notching a victory over a top 25 team is a pretty good sendoff for the weekend.
"I think if definitely gives us some confidence going into Saturday's game," Bryand said.