Coyotes finish regular season with easy win over Saint Mary
By: David Toelle, KWU Sports Information

Seniors Kristal Griffeth (13) and Sarah Carlson go up for a block in the third game against Saint Mary. Before the start of the match, KWU honored its three seniors playing in their final home regular season match of the year

Kansas Wesleyan won its eleventh straight match in convincing fashion, dispatching the Saint Mary Spires 30-20, 30-15, 30-13 in the regular season finale for both teams on Thursday night at Muir Gym.

Saint Mary jumped out an early 3-1 lead in the first game, and again at 5-3 before the Wesleyan offense came alive, sparked by a Kelli Berg kill, going on a 6-1 run to take a 11-7 lead. Four straight Saint Mary points tied the score at 11-all, but a 10-2 Wesleyan run put the game out of reach at 21-13, forcing a Saint Mary timeout. Saint Mary put together its own 6-1 run to get within three at 22-19, before two straight kills by Sarah Carlson sparked another 8-1 Wesleyan run capped by a Kolby Rhoades kill to give Wesleyan the 30-20 win in game one.

Game two started the same way as game one, with Saint Mary taking an early lead, and the Coyotes responding to take a big lead. The Spires led 4-3 before the Coyotes used a 6-1 run to take a 9-5 lead. After a Saint Mary point, Berg and Rhoades put down kills before Saint Mary was able to score again. A Rhoades kill started another Wesleyan run, sparked by the serving of Berg, including three consecutive aces, as the Coyotes blew the game wide open during the 15-3 run. Saint Mary scored five of the next six points, but the Coyotes scored the last three points of the game to win 30-15.

Saint Mary scored the first point of the third game, and had a 2-1 lead before the Wesleyan offense exploded. Rhoades started the convincing 13-3 run, that featured another ace run, this time by Whitney DuBois with three straight. After a Saint Mary timeout, and two points by the Spires, Wesleyan put the game out of reach, finishing the game with a 15-6 run, as senior Kristal Griffeth capped the match with a kill to give the Coyotes a 30-13 win in the final game.

Rhoades, the three-time KCAC Player of the Week, led the Coyotes with 17 kills, while Griffeth added 11 and Carlson and Berg added five each. Freshman setter Caitlan Rush had a fantastic match filling in for an ill Landree MacLennnan with 38 assists. Berg led the servers with four aces, while DuBois added three. KCAC Libero of the Week Naomi Hobayan had 23 digs, while Rush added 11. Griffeth led the blocking corps with three solo and three assisted blocks, while DuBois had three solo and two assisted blocks.

The Coyotes finish the regular season tied with Bethel for second in the KCAC at 14-4, and will most likely be the no.3 seed in next week’s KCAC Post-Season Tournament after the application of the conference tie-breaker procedures.

-- KWU SI --