Lady Coyote volleyball cruises to ninth straight in win over Sterling
By: David Toelle, KWU Sports Information

Kelli Berg serves an ace on game point of game one in Wesleyan's sweep of Sterling on Thursday night

Sterling gave Kansas Wesleyan a little trouble at first in each of the three games of Thursday night’s KCAC volleyball match at Muir Gymnasium. The Lady Coyotes turned the tide in each game and easily took care of business 30-23, 30-17, 30-20 for Wesleyan’s ninth straight win.

“Sterling did some things to make it tough for us to get going,” KWU coach Shawn Taylor said. “They came out ready to play.”

Sterling (8-14, 4-9) hung with Wesleyan in game one, tying things up at 8-all, before Wesleyan would take control with a 9-2 run to take a 17-10 lead and force a Sterling timeout.

The Lady Warriors would answer back out of the timeout, with a 6-1 run to get back within two at 18-16. Kolby Rhoades would put down a ball for Wesleyan to break the run. Sterling would get as close as 22-21 on an ace, but Rhoades would answer back with a kill and then an ace of her own as the Lady Coyotes scored eight of the last ten points of game one for the win.

Wesleyan (18-7, 12-1) would take control early in game two, jumping out to a 3-0 lead, but Sterling would get as close as 6-4 on a service error from Wesleyan. Rhoades again would get the Wesleyan offense untracked putting a kill down sparking six unanswered points from the Lady Coyotes as part of a 10-3 run that put Wesleyan ahead 17-8. Sterling would score three in a row, when Rhoades would put another ball down sparking a 6-1 run to blow the game wide open at 23-12. A 4-1 Wesleyan run would end game two for the Lady Coyotes with the 30-17 win.

Game three was another struggle for Wesleyan, as Sterling was able to get their offense going a little bit.

“Sterling can be hard to stop when they get the chance to run their offense,” Taylor said. “They got on a little roll to start the third game, but I felt we would be okay.”

The Lady Warriors actually grabbed a 13-12 lead forcing a Wesleyan timeout. After the break, back-to-back-to-back kills from the Lady Coyotes, one from Whitney DuBois and two from Sarah Claborn would get Wesleyan back in control.

The Lady Coyotes would lead 18-17, with Sterling serving to tie the match when things immediately turned in favor of Wesleyan. A service error by the Lady Warriors gave the ball back to Wesleyan, who promptly proceeded to score the next ten points in a row to have match point at 29-17. Sterling would break the run, and score three points before DuBois would split the defense for the game finishing kill.

“We identified the passers we wanted to go after,” Taylor said. “We didn’t give them super tough serves to handle, but it was enough to break down their offense, which requires them to make perfect passes each time. We kept them from that, and we were okay.”

The Lady Coyotes were led by Claborn with 21 kills, while hitting an incredible .486 on the night. Rhoades added 13 kills and a team high 15 digs, while Karissa Kent added 13 digs. Kelli Berg had 40 assists. Rhoades also added three aces, while Claborn and Berg each had a pair and Rhoades led the way with three solo blocks, and Claborn had two solo blocks on the night.

Wesleyan steps out of conference one final time, traveling to Atchison to take on Benedictine on Saturday at 11 a.m. Wesleyan then steps back into conference play on Monday to face arch-rival Bethany in Lindsborg. It’s a pivotal match for both teams as Wesleyan and Bethany share the lead in the KCAC race. The Swedes were able to knock off Wesleyan in the two teams’ first meeting.

-- KWU SI --