FORT WORTH, TX: The Texas Wesleyan University volleyball team (9-12, 2-2 RRAC) took a 3-0 (25-12, 25-17, 26-24) loss to #1 ranked University of Texas at Brownsville (19-0, 5-0 RRAC) on dig pink day at the Sid Richardson Center on Friday Night.

The Sid Richardson Gymnasium was dressed in pink for breast cancer awareness night. Texas Wesleyan had silent auction for jerseys and shirts for sale supporting the Side-Out Foundation’s “Dig Pink” Program. Donations can also be made through ramsports.net by clicking the Donate Now banner on the volleyball home page.

The Scorpions went into the match riding a 40 game winning streak against RRAC opponents dating back to November 7, 2008.

The Lady Rams fell behind early in the first set and the Lady Scorpions showed why they are the top dog in the country with solid defending, while taking very effective swings.  Brownsville went on a 9-1 run to end the game in a 25-12 win.

Meghan Finley gave the Lady Rams their first lead in the second set with a first point kill. The two teams battled for advantage and until the Lady Scorpions made a 4-0 run to take a 9-5 lead. The Lady Rams made it a 13-10 game off of a Lynsay Buell kill, but Brownsville went on a 5-0 run late to push the lead to 24-16. The Lady Rams could not make a run dropping the second set 25-17.

A different Lady Ram team came out for the third set pouncing out to a 3-0 lead with help from an Alex Hendee kill and a Stephanie Dominguez ace. UT-Brownsville struggled to tie the game at 9-9, before the Wesleyan offense went on a 5-0 run to take a 15-9 lead. The Lady Scorpions did all they could to get back in the game, and were finally able to tie at 21-21. Texas Wesleyan was able to gain a set point at 24-23, but the Lady Scorpions were able to edge out a win with a Michelle Marques kill and a Paula Barros service ace to win 26-24.

“I was happy with our performance in the third set,” commented head coach Christy Clawson. “We were relaxed and played the way we know how. We need to start off playing like that from the first serve of the match. We’ve seen them (UT-B) now and we’ll make the adjustments we need to be better when we see them in the conference tournament.”

Finley led the Lady Rams with eight kills on 22 swings. Katherine Rosenbusch followed with seven kills on 18 swings. Angelica Arroyo tallied 21 assists in the loss. Dominguez had 13 digs for the Lady Rams.

The Rams will continue conference play taking on Our Lady of the Lake University, tomorrow at 1:00 pm in the Sid Richardson Center.