FORT WORTH, TX: The Texas Wesleyan University volleyball team (1-1) split the first day of the SAC/RRAC Conference Clash on Friday. The Lady Rams opened the season with a 3-0 (25-13, 25-12, 25-14) win over Jarvis Christian College (0-2), before dropping a 3-1 (22-25, 25-19, 25-15, 25-21) match to Our Lady of the Lake University (2-0) at the Sid Richardson Center.
 
The Lady Rams faced off against the Lady Bulldogs in the first match. After being tied 3-3, Wesleyan rattled off a 5-0 run capped by an Abby Zipoy kill to make it an 8-3 lead. The Rams fueled the fire continuing on a 16-4 run capped by another Zipoy kill to make it a 19-7 advantage. TWU took advantage of multiple Bulldog errors, cruising the rest of the way to take the first set, 25-13.
 
Wesleyan sprinted out to a 9-5 lead in the second set after a kill by Shelby Stinnett. Stinnett gave the Rams a 17-7 advantage later in the match, and Starnisha Bodie ended the second set with a smash to win 25-12.
 
The Bulldogs held their own to start the third set, hanging with the Lady Rams with a few good plays. Kiersten Mebane led the charge for Wesleyan, laying down four kills to keep the Rams up, 10-7. That sparked a 9-4 Ram run capped by a Bodie kill to make it a 19-12 set. Wesleyan finished the set with a 25-14 win, taking the match 3-0.
 
Stinnett tallied 13 kills in the win, hitting .444. Zipoy followed with 10 kills and seven digs. Mebane notched eight kills. Kristina Gafford punched 35 assists, while adding eight digs in the win.
 
In the second match, the Lady Rams came out with a bang with a 12-7 lead after Gafford put down a tricky kill. Texas Wesleyan controlled the set and struck a kill to make it a 20-15 lead. The Lady Saints could not control the ball making multiple errors and Wesleyan took a 25-22 first set win.
 
The Saints made adjustments and although the Rams got out to a 4-1 lead on a Gafford ace, OLLU slowly worked and finally tied the game at 13-13 after a Ram attacking error. The Saints kept the pedal to the metal and took the second set 25-19.
 
The next two sets went this way as the Saints defense did just enough to keep the Wesleyan offense at bay. Texas Wesleyan had a 7-3 surge in the fourth set capped by a Mebane kill to cut the lead to 23-20, but could not complete the comeback. TWU dropped the third set 25-15, and the fourth 25-21.
 
The Rams were led by Zipoy who notched 12 kills and 12 digs in the loss. Bodie posted 12 kills. Gafford tallied 35 assists in the match. Shaughnessy Hearn led the Rams with 19 digs.
 
The Lady Rams will continue in the conference clash with a match against Langston University at 12:00 pm and a match with St. Thomas-Houston at 4:00 pm at the Sid Richardson Center.