Friends knocks off Coyotes in five game thriller
By: David Toelle, KWU Sports Information

Whitney DuBois (7) and Kelli Berg go for a block against Friends' Amanda Shaver in the third game of Tuesday's match

Anyone attending Tuesday night’s volleyball match between Kansas Wesleyan and Friends definitely got their money's worth as the Coyotes and Falcons took the match to five games, as Friends knocked off KWU 30-32, 31-29, 10-30, 30-28, 17-15 at Muir Gymnasium.

Game one saw was a see-saw battle until Friends tied things up at 4-all, sparking a 5-0 run to give them a 8-5 lead. Wesleyan was able to fight back, finally tying things at 14-all on an error by Friends. The Falcons responded and reeled off four straight points forcing Wesleyan coach Gordon Reimer to use a timeout. After the break, Friends gave the ball back to the Coyotes on a serving error, and the Coyotes got back within three at 23-20 when a kill by Kristal Griffeth sparked a 7-1 Wesleyan run to give the Coyotes a 27-24 lead. Friends wasn’t finished, delivering a 5-1 run of its own, grabbing the lead back at 29-28. A thunderous Kolby Rhoades kill tied it at 29, but the Falcons jumped ahead 30-29 before a block by Griffeth and Whitney DuBois sparked a three-point Wesleyan run to give the Coyotes the game one win 32-30.

Game two was another close affair that swung the way of the Falcons. Friends jumped out to a big 14-5 lead before the Coyote offense could get started. The Coyotes outscored Friends 13-4 over the next 17 points to tie things up at 18-all. Friends responded with a 6-1 run to get back ahead 24-19 forcing a Wesleyan timeout. After the break, the Coyotes answered the Friends run with an 8-1 run to go ahead 27-25. It was Friends that had the final answer, scoring six of the last eight points to come away with the 31-29 win.

Game three was all Wesleyan from the start. The Coyotes jumped out to a early 6-2 lead and never looked back. KWU used nine straight service wins behind the powerful jump serve of Naomi Hobayan to blow the game wide open at 16-4. Wesleyan closed out game three with a 23-8 run to easily win 30-10.

Game four saw Friends jump out to another early 3-1 lead, but saw Wesleyan close the gap and take an 11-10 lead. Friends responded with a 10-3 run to go ahead 20-15. Wesleyan was never able to recover, getting within one twice, once at 23-24 and again at 28-29, but Friends was able to win game four 30-28.

Game five looked like it was going to be dominated by the Falcons as Wesleyan fell behind early 3-1. The Coyotes were able to tie things up at 3-all before Friends went on a 5-0 run to go ahead 8-3, and force the side change. Wesleyan came out firing after as a Griffeth kill sparked an 8-3 Coyote run to tie things up at 11-all. Friends scored the next two points to go ahead 13-11, but Wesleyan used a service error by Friends, an ace by Melissa Harrington, and another point to have match point at 14-13. Friends was able to tie at 14, before Griffeth gave Wesleyan a second match point at 15-14. Friends closed the match out with three straight points for the 17-15 win.

Griffeth led Wesleyan (8-8, 3-2) with 16 kills, while Rhoades added 15, and Sarah Carlson had 14. Landree MacLennan continued to shine at the setter position with 35 assists, and also had four aces to share the team high with Harrington. This week’s KCAC Defensive Player of the Week Naomi Hobayan had 30 digs to lead the Coyotes, while Griffeth had 3.5 total blocks to lead.

Wesleyan’s week doesn’t get any easier as they face the two of the top teams in the conference on the road beginning with Tabor on Thursday and at Bethel on Saturday.

-- KWU SI --