FORT WORTH, TX: The Texas Wesleyan University volleyball team (13-7, 2-0 RRAC) collected a big win against rival Southwestern Assemblies of God University (6-10, 2-1 RRAC) at the Sheaffer Center in Waxahachie, TX. The Lady Rams pulled out the victory in an expected five set slugfest (3-2, 25-20, 25-19, 26-24, 25-21,15-12).
The Lady Lions got the best on the first set, getting up 1-0 on the Lady Rams
The Lady Rams evened the match with a 25-19 win in set two.
The third set was extremely tight with the Rams getting up early. SAGU then went on a run to take the lead. A Lady Ram time out induced a 6-0 run to take the lead back at 10-9.
The Lions dug in and went up 17-14, forcing Wesleyan to burn their last timeout of the third set. The rivals did battle in one of the closest sets of the year. The game was tied 22-22 when the Lions took a 23-22 lead.
The set was tied two more times before a costly serving error gave just enough momentum for SAGU to take the important game three 26-24.
The Rams got out to a 5-0 lead in the fourth set. Lynsay Buell made it a 9-4 game. Service errors by the Lady Rams kept the Lady Lions in the match. The Rams tried to fight off SAGU and keep a lead, but a short run put the fourth set at 17-14.
Texas Wesleyan came out of another timeout with a response that started with an Alex Hendee kill. The hyped up SAGU crowd did their part to disrupt Wesleyans communication.
The Rams took game four 25-21 to force a fifth set, but the Lady Lions did not go out without a fight.
Both teams played extremely well throughout the entire match and the fifth set was no exception. The volleys seemed to get longer and longer. The Rams took a two-point 8-6 lead before the two teams switched side as is the custom in the fifth set.
The Lions made it a 9-8 deficit with a pair of powerful kills. The Rams kept the Lions at bay long enough to escape Waxahachie, TX with a 15-12 fifth set win to improve to 2-0 in conference play.
“We’ve lost the last three years,” said Christy Clawson, TWU’s coach. “We’ve been accustomed to splitting each season with SAGU. So this is a huge win for us. We were very mentally focused. They were tough. They always give us all that we can handle.”
The Lady Rams take a conference break and play Hardin-Simmons on September 28 at 7:00 pm, before heading to Hobbs, NM to take on conference opponent University of the Southwest on September 29 at 1:00 pm.
