FORT WORTH, TX: The Texas Wesleyan University volleyball team (9-14, 5-3 SAC) were outlasted by John Brown University (14-7, 5-3 SAC) in five sets (25-15, 20-25, 25-23, 20-25, 15-9) at the Sid Richardson Center on Saturday.
 
Two very evenly matched teams took to the court, and it showed as match took five sets to decide a winner. John Brown relied very heavily on their ace Audrey Dearien, who accounted for over one fourth of the Golden Eagle offense, while making her presence felt in a big way on defense as well with 21 digs to compliment 28 kills in the match.
 
In the first set the two teams took turns sharing the lead to start, but a 5-0 JBU run made it 11-7 on a Ram error. An Eagle ace made it 15-9, before the visiting team extended the lead to 21-14. Texas Wesleyan could not recover from the rocky start, dropping the first set 25-15.
 
The Lady Rams got back on track in the second set and bounced out to 14-9 lead, compliments of a Shaughnessy Hearn ace. Wesleyan stayed on the throttle and extended the lead to 17-11 on a Starnisha Bodie throw down. A JBU error gave the Rams a 23-17 advantage before the Golden Eagles posted a 3-0 rally to close the gap, 23-20. Wesleyan snuffed out the attack marching to a 25-20 second set win.
 
Neither team had complete control over the third set, as the Rams and Golden Eagles battled hard, each point important in building momentum to spark a rally to pull away from the opponent. Melissa Bakke found the floor on a kill to take a 13-12 lead for John Brown, but Lynsay Buell and the Lady Rams answered with a smash to knot things up again. The struggle continued as Meghan Finley gave the Rams a 20-19 lead, followed by an Abigail Zipoy service ace to secure a 21-19 cushion. John Brown quickly tied the game, before making a good enough run to take a 25-23 third set win.
 
Texas Wesleyan responded in the fourth set, dominating the start with an 8-3 lead capped by a Shelby Stinnett kill that forced a John Brown timeout. The Lady Rams stayed in control throughout the set despite being tied at 12-12 at one point. Wesleyan sparked an 8-3 run pushing the lead back out to 20-15. Zipoy polished off the fourth set with a kill to win it 25-20.
 
The Golden Eagles may have had just a little more left in the tank in the fifth set, as Texas Wesleyan fell behind 8-3 early in a shortened fifth set. The Rams cut the lead to 11-8, but were not able to make a comeback, falling 15-9.
 
Head Coach Kimberly Weaver had this to say about the performance, "We battled hard, and just come up short today. Alex Hendee's solid performance gave us a chance to win. We overcame a rough start, and I was pleased with the effort. John Brown played really well. We are in a good place heading into the second round of conference play, and I'm excited to see what we are able to accomplish.
 
Alex Hendee played big with a double-double behind 15 kills and 15 digs. Zipoy had another double-double performance, racking up 14 kills and 15 digs. Stinnett also notched a double-double with 14 kills and 12 digs. Hearn led all players with 40 digs Lauren Hamaker tallied 32 assists.
 
The Lady Rams will travel to Oklahoma City, OK for a match against Mid-America Christian University on Tuesday, October 14 starting at 7:00 pm. 

Ramblings

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-Lynsay Buell ranks 2nd in the SAC with 69 total blocks

-The Lady Rams rank 2nd as a team in the SAC in blocks and digs

-Shaughnessy Hearn notched a career high 40 digs today