SILOAM SPRINGS, AR: The Texas Wesleyan University volleyball team (16-2, 3-2 SAC) came out on top of a 3-2 (25-15, 17-25, 25-23, 21-25, 15-8) thriller at John Brown University (15-2, 3-2 SAC) on Friday.
In the opening set, the Lady Rams held a slight edge on the Golden Eagles until John Brown tied the set at 11 apiece. Wesleyan took a 9-0 rally highlighted by a Stinnett kill and service ace on consecutive plays to grab a 19-11 lead. The Rams kept the tempo up to take the set 25-17.
The second set was tightly contested until JBU found breathing room at 14-9 on a Bailei Brown kill. The Golden Eagles controlled the set, racing to a 20-12 advantage. Alanna Hayhurst made it a 24-16 game on a kill, but that would be all as the match drew even with a 25-17.
Kayla Hays went back-to-back with service aces to start the third set to give the Lady Rams an early 6-3 edge. The Golden Eagles kept close tabs on their opponent mid-way through, but Kiersten Mebane fired off a kill to keep the momentum with the Rams. John Brown slowly clawed back to tie the set, 16-16 defending home court fiercely. Sasha Robinson laid down an ace before a Carli Owens solo block gave the Lady Rams a 21-18 lead. The Golden Eagles rallied again to erase the lead and tie the game at 23 all, but Hayhurst and Brittni Mohle teamed up for two kills to lift the Rams to a 25-23 win.
John Brown took advantage of a few Ram errors to gain a 9-2 start in the fourth set. Brianna Jaramillo jump started the offense with a kill and the Lady Rams cut the lead to 17-15 with a Morgan Reese ace. An Owens kill made it a one-point, 18-17 deficit, but the home team rallied to force a fifth set with a 25-21 win.
Texas Wesleyan fell behind 0-2 to start the fifth, but quickly flipped the script with a 4-0 rally that turned into a 9-5 lead capped by another Owens block. Chalon Anderson played great defense all match, but it was an offensive ace from the junior defensive specialist that gave the Rams an 11-6 edge. Wesleyan ended the match on a 4-0 run capped by a Jaramillo smash for the 3-2 match win.
Stinnett led the Lady Rams with 17 kills and 16 digs. Hayhurst posted 10 kills, 16 digs in the win. Sasha Robinson led all players with 37 assists, adding 15 digs. Anderson led all players with 44 digs.
The Lady Rams will travel to Muskogee, OK for a match with Bacone College tomorrow starting at 1:00 pm.
