Box Score
FORT WORTH, TX: The Texas Wesleyan University volleyball team (11-13, 4-3 RRAC) took a loss to Wiley College (11-8, 4-3 RRAC) in three games (25-18, 25-27, and 27-25) at the Sid Richardson Center on Saturday.
Texas Wesleyan was caught off guard in the first set, as Wiley fed the ball to Jessica Lopez early and often. Lopez tallied eight kills in the first set as the Lady Rams had no answer for the outside hitter, taking a 25-18 first set loss.
The Lady Rams were a step behind in the second set, and the Lady Wildcats’ defense was strong. Texas Wesleyan hit .108 to Wiley’s .373, led again by Lopez, who had six kills in the second set. The Lady Rams could not take any momentum away from Wiley, and took a 25-17 second set loss.
The third set was very evenly matched, as the Lady Rams made adjustments, mainly taking Lopez out of hitting positions. The score came to a tie 16 times in the third set, as both teams showed off their firepower, and defense. Texas Wesleyan took the lead at 15-14 with a kill from Hannah Horton on an Evoni Darling assist, but the Wildcats regained the lead at 17-16 with a Darly Castillo Kill from an Eileen Burbano assist. The Rams got hold of the lead again at 24-23 by way of a Wiley attacking error, but gave it back on consecutive attacking errors and the Wildcats were given a 25-24 match point advantage. Darling caught Wiley off guard though, throwing down a kill to tie the game at 25. The Lady Wildcats took the win on back to back kills, taking the third set 27-25, and the match 3-0.
“We were well prepared, we just didn’t start out like we were,” said head coach Christy Clawson, “we had trouble shutting down (Lopez), but made adjustments in the third set. We can’t take a set and a half to play ourselves into a match. We have to do a better job of being ready physically and mentally before the match. We’ll use this loss to turn the intensity around in practice.”
Darling led the Lady Rams with 26 assists, adding 10 digs. Horton tallied eight kills, and Haelee Horne had seven kills and nine digs in the match. Marissa Rangel led all players with 14 digs, and Katherine Rosenbush had four kills, one block solo and six block assists in the loss.
The Lady Rams look to rebound as they travel to Muskogee, OK, to battle Bacone College on October 15, at 5:00 p.m.
