FORT WORTH, TX: The Texas Wesleyan University volleyball team (6-9) split day two of the Wesleyan-Hughes Classic after going 1-1 on day one. The Lady Rams dropped a match to Lubbock Christian (10-2) in three set (26-24, 25-19, 25-22) before taking a win against Huston-Tillotson (0-9) in three sets (25-11, 25-9, 25-14).

In the match against Lubbock Christian, the Lady Rams came out strong scampering out to an 8-4 lead capped by a Lynsay Buell kill. Wesleyan held on to a slight advantage late, holding 19-18 lead after a Meghan Finley kill, but the Lady Chaps led by Caitlin Kender came back to win the first set 26-24.

In the second set the Lady Rams fell behind 15-6 after a couple of Kender kills. Texas Wesleyan closed the gap at 23-18 but lead was too great to overcome and the Lady Rams fell behind 2-0 in the match losing 25-19.

The third set went back and forth with Wesleyan getting a 3-0 lead. The Lady Chaps came back and led 10-6 on a flourish of Brittany Johnson kills. The Lady Rams battled back and cut the lead to 16-15 with a kill from Marissa Rangel, but again Lubbock Christian finished strong taking the match with a 25-22 third set win.

Finley led the Rams with 10 kills, hitting an impressive .692 for the match. Angelica Arroyo tallied 26 assists, and Rangel picked up 12 digs in the effort.

Lubbock Christian hit .174 to the Lady Rams .115. Wesleyan led blocks with 12 blocks and three errors, to the Lady Chaps 11 blocks and six errors. The match was tied 16 times and saw eight lead changes.

Texas Wesleyan bounced back to pick up an easy win against fellow Red River Athletic Conference opponent and mascot twin, Huston-Tillotson University.

In the first set the Wesleyan jumped out to a 7-3 capped off by a 5-0 run. The Wesleyan Rams kept the pressure on and finished game one on a 10-1 run with Finley giving the set winning kill.

Texas Wesleyan went on a 12-1 run to start the second set capped by another Finley kill. Errors kept the Huston-Tillotson Rams from gaining any ground and an attack error by Mariah Wooten gave Wesleyan a 25-9 set two win and 2-0 match advantage.

Texas Wesleyan stayed with the theme in the third set which was huge runs early, treading out to a 14-1 lead that included four consecutive service aces by Rangel. The Wesleyan lead was too great for Huston-Tillotson to make up and the Wesleyan Lady Rams took a 25-14 win with a Bailey Bunting kill.

Finley and Buell led the Lady Rams with eight kill each. Arroyo tacked on 26 assists in the win.

The Lady Rams will open conference play at home with a match with Southwestern Assemblies of God University on Tuesday, September 20. Game time is scheduled for a 7:00 p.m. start at the Sid Richardson Center.