KWU wins in four games to advance to regional volleyball semifinals
Claborn obliterates school kills record with 42
By: David Toelle, KWU Sports Information

BELLEVUE, Neb. – Kansas Wesleyan advanced to the NAIA Region IV Volleyball semifinals with a 30-26, 27-30, 30-18, 30-23 win over Peru State (Neb.) in the first match of the regional volleyball tournament at the Gordon Lozier Athletic Center at Bellevue University.

Sarah Claborn, who was named the KCAC Player of the Year last week, crushed her own school record for kills in a match with 42. The old record was 32, set on October 27 against Bethel.

Wesleyan jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the first game, but Peru State would rally to tie it at 3-all on the heels of three straight capped by a Ashleigh Ravkinar kill. Kills from Whitney DuBois and Kolby Rhoades would give Wesleyan another lead, but again Peru would come back to tie.

The Bobcats would take the team’s first lead of the game at 12-11 on a kill from Kaitlin Marrow, forcing a Wesleyan timeout.

Wesleyan would take back control of the first game when a Claborn kill would tie it at 14, and DuBois would serve three straight aces to give the Coyotes a 17-14 lead.

Peru would answer coming out of a timeout with three straight points to tie it at 17, and would eventually take a 20-19 lead before the Coyotes would come storming back. A 7-2 run would put the Coyotes up 26-22, and Wesleyan would take the game on a blocking error by Allison Slager.

KWU (27-7) would jump out to a 2-1 lead in game two, but four straight from Peru would make it 5-2. The Coyotes could never recover until midway through the game. Peru State would lead 15-13 after a KWU timeout, when the Coyotes would get things going. Claborn would put down a kill to spark a 5-0 run to put the Coyotes up 18-15. Peru State would call a timeout and use the break to regroup and go on a 11-4 run to take a 27-22 lead.

The Coyotes would get within two at 29-27, but Keshia Selko would put down a ball to give Peru State the game two win.

The Coyotes would jump out to a 4-1 lead in the third game, but Peru would rally and get within one at 4-3. Both teams would then trade points back and forth until the Coyotes would blow things open midway through the game. Leading 10-9, Claborn would spakr a 6-1 run to push the lead to 16-10. After two points from Peru, Wesleyan would open things up again with a 10-3 run to take a 26-15 lead.

The Bobcats (18-16) would get as close as 27-18, but Wesleyan would score the last three points of the game to grab the 30-18 win.

Peru State jumped out to a 3-0 lead in game four, but Wesleyan would claw its way back. Rhoades would even the match at 7-all, and the Coyotes would hang close with the Bobcats. Peru would grab a 19-18 lead on an attack error from Kelli Berg, but Ashley Winters would get a kill to get Wesleyan’s offense untracked, scoring the next five points to take a 23-19 lead.

The Bobcats would get within two points at 25-23, but Claborn would end the stretch and spark a match-ending 5-0 run that would be capped by a Berg ace to give the Coyotes the three games to one win.

Claborn’s 42 kills led Wesleyan, while Rhoades added 24 as the Coyotes tallied 77 kills on the day. Berg had 70 assists and Karissa Kent led with 18 digs, while Rhoades added 15 and Claborn 14.

Slager led Peru State with 10 kills, while four other Bobcat players had six each.

The Coyotes advance to play the winner of tonight’s match between No.1 seeded Bellevue and No. 8 seeded Bethel tomorrow night at 7:30 p.m. at the Lozier Center.

The winner of the regional tournament will advance to the NAIA Volleyball National Championships in Columbia, Mo., beginning November 28.

-- KWU SI --