Lady Coyotes take out Saint Mary
By: David Toelle, KWU Sports Information

Wesleyan looked excellent at times, but also struggled at others, something pointed out by first year coach Shawn Taylor.

“Just like we’ve been all season, we were very streaky tonight,” he said. “We want to have a consistent level of play, and we just aren’t seeing that right now. There’s a lot of peaks and valleys.”

The peaks and valleys were evident tonight against the Spires.

The Lady Coyotes trailed Saint Mary a majority of game one. With Wesleyan down 11-13, a KWU service error got the Spires untracked for six straight points to take a 19-11 lead. Wesleyan would answer back, using a 9-1 run to tie things up at 20-all. A service error would get Saint Mary a 21-20 advantage before back to back kills by Sarah Claborn would give Wesleyan a 22-21 lead. The Spires would tie things up at 22, before three straight points, two coming from aces by Kelli Berg would give Wesleyan a 26-25 lead.

Saint Mary (1-6, 1-1) would get three straight, tying things up again, before a kill and an ace by Claborn would give Wesleyan a lead they would not give up in picking up the game one win, emphasized by a Kolby Rhoades kill for the game winner.

Game two saw Wesleyan jump out to a 8-3 lead, but the Spires would rally, tying it up at 11-all, when the Lady Coyote offense got started. After a Wesleyan timeout, Claborn would put down a kill that sparked a 9-1 run that put the Lady Coyotes up 20-12. Saint Mary would get within two thanks to a 7-0 run, but the Lady Coyotes would close the door, using a 10-2 run capped by a game winning ace from Rhoades to grab the game two win 30-21.

Wesleyan struggled mightily in game three, but still nearly rallied for the win.

“We just quit passing in the third game,” Taylor said. “We lost ball control, and that makes it a little hard to side out and get points.”

Wesleyan led 17-10 when the Spires would rattle off eight unanswered to take a 18-17 lead. The Lady Coyotes would answer back, grabbing a short lived lead on a Claborn kill and an ace by Ashley Winters, but four straight points by the Spires would give them a 22-19 lead.

The Lady Coyotes would make things interesting, tying the game at 27, but Saint Mary would score three of the last four points to grab the 30-28 win.

Game four was all Wesleyan. The Lady Coyotes jumped out to a 10-3 lead, and would cap the game opening 11-4 run with a kill from Rhoades. The Spires would score four straight to get within four at 12-8, but four straight by Wesleyan capped by a kill from freshman Ashley Geasland would end any suspense. Leading 18-13, Claborn would put down a kill sparking an 8-1 Lady Coyote run putting Wesleyan up 26-14.

Wesleyan had match point at 29-18, but three straight points by the Spires delayed the inevitable when Claborn’s kill to end the match found paydirt.

The Lady Coyotes (3-4, 2-0), were led by Rhoades and Claborn with 19 kills each, while Berg would have 46 assists. Claborn would also add six aces to lead the Lady Coyotes while Winters had three aces. Karissa Kent had 26 digs, while Claborn added 19 and Rhoades had 12.

“Kolby and Sarah helped us a lot tonight,” Taylor said. “They gave us stability when we needed it, and got us headed back in the right direction when we were down.”

“They are a couple of players we know we can turn to if we need it,” he continued. “They have that exceptional ability to control a match, and that’s big.”

Taylor overall was pleased with his team’s effort tonight.

“We got to 2-0 in the conference, and we got the opportunity to work on a few new things with a few new players,” he said.

Wesleyan is back in action on Thursday in Hillsboro against Tabor, before heading to Olathe for the Mid-America Nazarene Classic on Friday and Saturday.

-- KWU SI --