FORT WORTH, TX: The Texas Wesleyan University volleyball team (12-17, 8-5 SAC) made a bid at upsetting #23 Oklahoma Baptist University (21-10, 11-2 SAC) in a close 3-1 (26-24, 31-29 27-29, 25-19) loss at the Sid Richardson Center on Tuesday.
 
The Lady Rams gave the Lady Bison all they could handle and then some, especially in the first set. The Lady Rams jumped out to a 7-2 lead to start, highlighted by an Abigail Zipoy kill. Texas Wesleyan posted a 5-0 rally capped by a Shelby Stinnett kill to make it a 14-6 advantage. Another 5-1 run capped on an Alex Hendee smack put the Rams up by an 11 point margin at 21-10. The Lady Bison finally seemed to find their bearings taking a back breaking, momentum swinging 13-2 run to tie the set at 23-23, taking all the wind out to the Lady Ram offense. The Bison seemingly could not make a wrong play, until Meghan Finley finally ended the drought with a kill to make 24-23 Texas Wesleyan. Three consecutive Lady Rams errors let Oklahoma Baptist off the hook with a 26-24 win.
 
The Lady Rams took control of the second set with a 6-3 lead on a Shelby Stinnett kill. Oklahoma Baptist took a 4-0 run to cut the lead to 11-10. A 7-1 rally accented with Hendee and Zipoy kills made it a 20-13 Lady Ram lead. Texas Wesleyan saw another big lead late in the set dwindle to 20-19. A Finley kill stopped the 6-0 run, but the Bison took another 5-0 run after that to take a 24-21 advantage. Texas Wesleyan did a masterful job fighting back against set point, getting a kill by Stinnet, and a block by Lauren Hamaker and Stinnett to tie the game 24-24. The two teams battled in relentless volleys with the game in the balance. The Lady Bison held a slight advantage at 25-24, but a Stinnett kill and an OBU error put the Rams in a 26-25 set point situation. The Lady Bison got a block, and a Wesleyan error to make it 27-26 Rams. Oklahoma Baptist got the lead back again before Zipoy tied the set, 29-29, but two Wesleyan errors gave the Bison the second set 31-29.
 
The third set was a bit tighter contest with the Bison taking a 12-8 lead before a Texas Wesleyan timeout. OBU held a 14-9 lead before the Lady Rams made an 11-5 run that tied the set at 19 apiece with a Lynsay Buell kill. The two evenly matched teams battled again as some fatigue was starting to become apparent, each team content with just getting the ball to the other side of the net anyway possible at times. It took extra points again, and after the Bison tied the set 27-27, two clutch kills from Buell and Hendee lifted the Lady Rams to a 29-27 win.
 
The fourth set was close early, tied seven time before a 5-0 Bison run made it 14-9. Texas Wesleyan quickly responded with a 5-0 rally accented by a Bre Blackburn ace to tie the game 15-15. The game runs continued with a 4-0 OBU rally to retake the lead, 19-15. The Lady Rams never quit fighting, but Oklahoma Baptist went on the take the match with a 25-19 fourth set win.
 
"Tough loss," commented head coach Kimberly Weaver, "…a great battle tonight between two solid teams. We know we belong at the top of our conference, and we are on the brink of demonstrating that."
 
Zipoy notched 16 kills and 14 digs in another double-double performance. Stinnett tallied 11 kills and 20 digs for the Rams. Hamaker had 36 assists and 14 digs on the night.
 
The Lady Rams will celebrate senior night with a match with Southwestern Christian University on Saturday, November 1 starting at 1:00 pm in the Sid Richardson Center.