OKLAHOMA CITY - Texas Wesleyan Volleyball (24-9) went to Oklahoma City this weekend with the intention of reaching the NAIA Tournament for the second-straight season. They achieved that by taking down Southwest Assemblies of God (28-4) in four sets Friday night (25-12, 21-25, 25-17, 25-23).

The formula for victory was all in the start for Texas Wesleyan, who jumped out to an 11-3 lead in Set 1. SAGU had six attacking errors during that stretch and ended up hitting -0.056 for the game, seven kills with nine attacking errors. Chastiny Brown and Sasha Robinson scored a pair of points in the early spurt. After SAGU attempted to charge back, Texas Wesleyan bumped the advantage to 12, 21-9, on Jasmine Creek's successful attack.

While SAGU took the second set, the Lady Rams responded with another dominant run in Set 3. Up 9-8, Texas Wesleyan went on a 9-2 run, thanks in part to a pair of kills from Brittni Mohle and Tierra Converson. 

Then came a defining moment in the Lady Rams' season. Down 23-18, appearing to be headed to a fifth set, TXWES rattled off seven straight points to close out the Lady Lions, beating SAGU in the SAC Semifinals for the second-straight season. Mohle provided the exclamation point.

Sasha Robinson had her second-straight triple-double of the tournament - 13 kills, 13 assists, 16 digs. Tierra Coverson earned 11 kills - hitting .474 - with 3.5 blocks, while Jasmine Creek turned in a 10-kill, 12-dig double-double. Brenda Pargas racked up 28 assists to go with her 13 digs and Chastiny Brown hit .350, contributing eight kills.

The Lady Rams won the defensive battle at the net (8-6 in blocks) and along the backline (76-69 in digs). Two of the four losses for SAGU this season have now come against Texas Wesleyan. The Rams hit .214 for the match, .314 in Set 1 (13 kills, 2 attacking errors). Pargas and Brianna Sitton each had two service aces while Sarah Benitez added the team's fifth.

WHAT'S NEXT
Texas Wesleyan will face Oklahoma City in the SAC Championship, a rematch of last season's clash that saw the Stars take a three-set sweep. First serve is set for 1 p.m. Saturday. Because Oklahoma City already secured their NAIA Tournament berth for winning the regular season, the Lady Rams will get the conference's second automatic bid. Texas Wesleyan took a similar path last season with the upset.

CHASING HISTORY
Texas Wesleyan will be trying to win its first conference title since 2005, when it won the Red River Athletic Conference with a 35-5, unbeaten-in-conference campaign, reaching the NAIA Elite Eight. The challenger - Oklahoma City - has faced Texas Wesleyan 18 previous times, winning 10 in what continues to be a serious battle for NAIA volleyball supremacy in the south.