BELLEVUE, Neb. — After taking the match to a fifth set and with a 16-16 tie, things went in favor for the No. 18 Bellevue Bruins with back-to-back game winning points, as the Lady Rams fell 3-2 (25-23, 18-25, 25-23, 23-25, 16-18) in the NAIA Women's Volleyball National Championship Opening Round on Saturday.
 
The loss eliminates the Lady Rams as they finish the season 18-5 overall, while the 17-5 Bruins advance to Sioux City, Iowa for the remainder of the tournament.
 
Nyia Anderson knocked down 13 kills with 14 digs for her seventh double-double of the season. Also, with her seventh double-double of the year was Morgan Burns with 10 kills and 47 assists.
 
Veronika Webb matched Anderson with 13 kills of her own, while Madison Little put down 11 kills. Haley Harvey finished with 18 digs, and Bailey Foy with 3 aces and 7 blocks.

The Lady Rams started off the first set with a five-point run. They held the advantage for the entire set with the Bruins coming within a point four times, but TXWES held steady for the 25-23 opening set win.
 
The second set saw the Bruins improve their attacking percentage to .390 after hitting .171 in set one. This time TXWES trailed the entire set as BU took it 25-18.
 
Set three was highly contested with 10 ties. With the set knotted at 22-22, the Lady Rams knocked down three straight kills while allowing one BU kill for the 25-23 victory. TXWES also hit a match best .517 behind 17 kills.
 
Similarly, set four had eight ties and four lead changes in a tough battle. TXWES had a 17-16 advantage until BU went on a five-point run. A kill and three straight blocks by the Lady Rams tied it back at 21-all. But the Bruins would close it with four kills to TXWES' two to send the match into a fifth set.
 
TXWES climbed to a 12-8 lead, but BU would chain six points together for a two-point advantage of their own. With back-and-forth action, the set tied twice more and for the final time at 16-16, but the cards were in favor of BU as they put down a kill and ace to win the match 3-2.
 
During the match, TXWES hit .264 with 60 kills, 6 aces and 15 blocks. BU hit .285 with 80 kills and 6 blocks.
 
The season ends for the Lady Rams who advanced to the NAIA National Championship Opening Round for the third straight season after finishing as Sooner Athletic Conference Tournament Runner-Up.
 
The team graduates two seniors in Madison Little and Gabriella Gracia Badillo.