FORT WORTH, TX: The Texas Wesleyan women’s volleyball team (19-15) competed at the2012 RRAC Championship winning over Our Lady of the Lake University 3-1 (25-21, 20-25, 25-20, 27-25) before falling in the semi-final match against UT- Brownsville 3-0 (25-15, 25-20, 25-19) at the Sid Richardson Center on Friday.
 
The Lady Rams pulled out to a 3-1 lead in game one on an Abigail Zipoy kill, but the Lady Saints quickly tied the game at six all. The two teams kept it close until Wesleyan pulled away on a 6-2 run to make it 18-14 with a Meghan Finley kill. The Lady Saints could never recover as Wesleyan took game one 25-21 on a Zipoy service ace that kissed the line for the win.
 
Our Lady of the Lake took the second game after charging out to a ten point lead at 13-3. Wesleyan made some ground with a 6-0 run to make it a 14-9 deficit on a Lynsay Buell kill. The Lady Rams made it close with a 4-0 run that ended with another Buell kill to bring the score to 21-19, but the Lady Saints stopped the bleeding for a 25-20 game two win.
 
OLLU got out to another early lead in the third set at 4-1 with a Sydney Herrera kill. The Lady Rams battled back and tied the game at 9-9 with Finley kill, and took the lead on the next play with a Katherine Rosenbusch block. Rosenbusch rattled off back to back kills to make it 12-9 before the Lady Saints had to take a timeout to gather their wits. The Lady Rams were able to keep the Saints at bay for the rest of the set take a 25-20 third set win.
 
The fourth set proved to be one of the hardest fought sets of the season, with both teams playing very well, volleys lasting longer and longer it seemed.  The Lady Rams started out with a 3-0 lead, but OLLU quickly tied the set at five all. Wesleyan took another slight lead but again the Lady Saints tied it at 10-10. Alex Hendee made it 16-12 with a kill on a ball played from Angelica Arroyo, who took most of the assists for the Lady Rams. Our Lady of the Lake found momentum and took a 22-21 lead late. The Lady Saints found momentum and took a set point 24-22 lead, but the Lady Rams tied the game on a Hendee kill at 24-24. The set was tied again before a Finley kill gave Wesleyan a slight edge at 26-25 before an OLLU timeout. Finley put away the match after the timeout to give the Rams a 27-25 fourth set win to take the match 3-1.
 
Texas Wesleyan did a very impressive job throughout the match of keeping composure under pressure and responding positively when the Lady Saints had momentum.
 
Finley and Rosenbusch led the Lady Rams with 15 kills each. Zipoy picked up a double-double with 11 kills and 13 digs in the win. Buell also had an 11 kill match. Arroyo posted a double-double with 17 digs and 51 assists.  Stephanie Dominguez led all players with 22 digs.
 
The Lady Rams took on UT-Brownsville in the semi-final match. Texas Wesleyan played well, fighting hard to pressure the Lady Scorpions, but dropped the game 3-0 to the second ranked team in the nation.
 
“We played well,” commented head coach Christy Clawson, “especially toward the end of the season. We peaked at the right time and I am extremely proud of my team and how hard they played today. We had a hard road but kept fighting and finished the season strong. We will miss Angelica (Arroyo) greatly next year. I have high expectations for next season.”
 
 
The University of St. Thomas defeated SAGU 3-1 (25-21, 25-23, 17-25, 25-13) before upsetting Wiley College 3-1 (25-22, 17-25, 25-21, 25-12), to set up a Lady Celt versus Lady Scorpion Championship match tomorrow at 1:00 p.m. in the Sid Richardson Center.