Box Score 1 | Box Score 2
FORT WORTH, TX: The Texas Wesleyan University volleyball team (9-11, 1-1 SAC) challenged tenth ranked Oklahoma Baptist (12-4, 2-0 SAC) in a 3-0 (25-15, 29-27, 23-25) loss before taking a 3-0 (25-20, 25-18, 26-24) win from Wiley College (7-9) at the Sid Richardson Center on Saturday.
 
The Lady Rams got down early in the first set at 10-5, but battled back to cut the lead to a two point deficit at 16-14 with a Courtney Shirey kill. The Lady Bison held the Lady Rams to only a Katherine Rosenbusch kill the rest of the way to take a 25-15 first set.
 
The second set was a shootout as Texas Wesleyan showed they could compete with a tenth ranked team in the nation. Alex Hendee tied the game a 9-9 in the early goings, but that was already the fifth time the score was tied. Hendee gave the Rams the lead at 15-14, but Oklahoma Baptist came back to take a 20-17 advantage. Lauren Hutchinson knocked down an ace to tie the game again at 22-22, before a Catherine Roth kill made it set point at 24-23 in favor of OBU. Two Bison errors then gave the Rams set point at 25-24. The set would be tied three more times before Meghan Finley gave Wesleyan the lead at 27-26. Oklahoma Baptist rattled off three solid points to secure a 29-27 second set win.
 
The third set was another close, competitive affair as the game was tied 11 times. It was a back and forth battle as Rosenbusch tried the keep the Lady Rams in the game with a game tying kill to make it 17-17. A Hendee kill and a Lady Bison error got the Rams within one at 24-23, but Kristin Pressley placed a kill to take a 25-23 third set, match win.
 
Hendee led all players with 12 kills while hitting .242. Rosenbusch tallied 10 kills and two block assists in the effort. Lauren Hamaker led all players with 19 assists. Hutchinson led all players with 17 digs. 
 
The Lady Rams kept complete control throughout the entire match against Wiley College. The Lady Wilcats were competitive early in the first set before the Wesleyan rattled off an 8-2 run for a 17-11 lead. Meghan Finley ended things with a kill for a 25-20 first set win.
 
The Lady Wildcats got up 6-2 in second set in an effort to gain some momentum. Texas Wesleyan raced back to tie the game at 8-8 with a Hendee kill on the way to a 16-3 run capped by a Hendee ace for a 16-9 lead. The Lady Rams were able to keep the pressure on while working in some the underclassmen on the way to a 25-18 win.
 
The Wesleyan reserves saw a lot of action in the third set, and as a result the game was more competitive. Nonetheless, the Lady Rams never surrendered control.  Bianca Upshaw got a kill to make it 22-20 Lady Rams, before Wiley took a 23-22 lead on a service ace. An Abigail Zipoy kill gave the Rams a 25-24 lead, before Hutchinson caught the Wildcats off guard with a kill to get the 26-24, 3-0 match win.
 
Rosenbusch led all players with 10 kills. Dominguez took down 22 assists. Hutchinson notched 21 digs in the win.
 
Head coach Kimberly Weaver commented on the day, "Despite the three set loss to Oklahoma Baptist, today was encouraging. We were a few adjustments away from upsetting a very good OBU team. Executing after a tough loss isn't easy, and I was very pleased with how we responded".
 
The Lady Rams will continue their home stand with a conference match against John Brown University on Friday, September, 27 starting at 7:00 pm at the Sid Richardson Center.