Coyotes cruise to eighth straight win with sweep of Tabor
By: David Toelle, KWU Sports Information

Sarah Claborn puts down a kill against Tabor's Jordan Crosson as the Lady Coyotes swept the Bluejays in three games Tuesday night

Sarah Claborn led the way with 19 kills, including ten in the first game as the Kansas Wesleyan Lady Coyotes cruised to a 30-21, 30-27, 30-20 win over the Tabor Bluejays on Tuesday night inside Muir Gymnasium.

Tabor scored the first point of game one, but Claborn answered back with a thunderous kill across the court that got Wesleyan back on the offensive. The Lady Coyotes would bolt out to a 9-6 lead, but Tabor would get back into it, getting within one at 12-11. That’s when the Wesleyan offense would get untracked. Claborn would have back to back kills as the Lady Coyotes exploded on an 11-3 run to take a 23-14 lead.

Tabor would get as close as seven points at 27-20, but Wesleyan would take game one 30-21 when Tabor’s Ashley Kohlmia would hit a ball wide down the left side line for game point.

Kansas Wesleyan head coach Shawn Taylor was impressed with Claborn’s effort in the first game.

“Sarah came out on fire in the first game,” Taylor said. “We had kind of hoped for a different match-up for her, but with Sarah, she can put the ball anywhere she wants when given the chance, and Tabor gave her chances in the first game, and she turned them into points.”

Tabor hung with the Lady Coyotes throughout the majority of game two. Tabor would tie things up at 11-all, when Wesleyan got back on a roll, using a 5-1 run to take a 16-12 lead. The Lady Bluejays would answer back with an 8-2 run to take a 20-19 lead. The Bluejays would push the lead to 23-21, forcing a Wesleyan timeout.

Taylor calmed the troops during the break and Wesleyan used a serving error on Tabor to start a 7-2 that put Wesleyan up 28-25. Two straight points from Tabor got them within one, but the Lady Coyotes scored the final two of the game as Ashley Winters got a ball down to end game two for the 30-27 win.

“I called the timeout to get us calmed down,” Taylor said. “I told the girls to relax and get their heads back into the game. I looked at who we had as servers coming up once we got the chance, and I felt like we were going to be okay, and we ended up pulling out the win in the game.”

Tabor (14-11, 8-4) jumped out to a 3-0 lead to start the third game, but the Claborn got Wesleyan untracked with a kill to the opposite corner, starting an 8-0 run to give the Lady Coyotes an 8-3 lead. Tabor would break the run with a tip kill down the line, but Wesleyan would go back on the offensive using a 7-2 run to take a 15-6 lead.

Tabor would score four straight points before Wesleyan would come to life again, using another huge 11-3 run to take a 26-13 lead. Tabor would go on a short four-point run to get within nine, but Ashley Geasland would kill a ball to break the run and the Lady Coyotes would cruise to the 30-20 win.

“I was concerned as I always am when we head into game three with a 2-0 lead with our focus,” Taylor said. “Tabor always plays better later in matches, and they had us on our heels to start the game, but we calmed ourselves down and went on a big run to take control.”

Claborn’s 19 kills led the Wesleyan attack, while Kolby Rhoades added ten, and Geasland had a breakout match with seven kills on nine attempts. Kelli Berg had 34 assists, while DuBois and Claborn each led the way with two aces. Karissa Kent had ten digs to lead the Lady Coyotes.

Wesleyan is back in action on Thursday, wrapping up a three match home stand as they host Sterling at 7:00 p.m. inside Muir Gymnasium.

-- KWU SI --