Box Score
FORT WORTH, TX: The Texas Wesleyan University volleyball team (13-14) was a couple of points away from getting the better of NCAA Division II Southern Nazarene University (13-6) in a 3-2 (17-25, 25-23, 25-19, 17-25, 15-12) loss on Friday night.
 
The Lady Rams got off to a good start in the first set, despite getting down 9-5 early; Wesleyan spurred a 4-1 run capped by an Abigail Zipoy kill to get within one point at 10-9. Katherine Rosenbusch tied the game at 12-12 with a kill, before Zipoy notched a kill to give the Rams their first lead of the night at 13-12. A pair of Alex Hendee service aces made it 24-17, and a Crimson Storm error gave the Lady Rams an early advantage with a first set win.
 
The second set was a very tightly contested game, as the score was knotted up 17 times. Southern Nazarene hit .294, while Wesleyan hit .216 in the second set. Lauren Hamaker tied the game at 23-23 with a kill, before Kira Roberts threw down two consecutive kills to give the Storm a 25-23 second set.
 
The Lady Rams held on to a 14-13 lead in the third set, but could not hold off the Storm as they took an 8-2 run to fuel a 21-16 lead. Wesleyan could not recover from the run and dropped the set 25-19.
 
Texas Wesleyan took back all the momentum and then some as the Crimson Storm all but disappeared. The Lady Rams kept Southern Naz on their heels the entire set, jumping out to an 11-5 lead to start the set. Three Ram errors led to a 5-0 SNU run to make it 16-12, but Wesleyan took a 9-5 run capped by a Hendee kill to even the match with a 25-17 win.
 
The Lady Rams looked poised to finish off the Crimson Storm in the fifth set, but some costly errors gave Southern Nazarene enough to edge Texas Wesleyan for the 3-2 match win with a 15-12 fifth set. After The Rams gave up a 2-0 lead to start, and the Storm used a 7-4 lead to keep the Lady Rams at bay. A Hendee kill brought Wesleyan within one point at12-11, but the Rams came up just short
 
Hendee led all players with 18 kills, while notching a double double with 15 digs as well. Zipoy also tallied a double double with 14 kills and 16 digs. Stephanie Dominguez had an impressive 31 assists, while splitting time with Hamaker, who posted 24. Lauren Hutchinson led all players with 26 digs in the match.
 
The Southern Nazarene University Crimson Storm moved from Sooner Athletic Conference to NCAA Division II and now is a member of the Great American Conference.
 
The Lady Rams will go to Shawnee, OK for a match against Oklahoma Baptist University on Thursday, October 17 starting at 7:00 pm.