The Rams finished back-to-back games on the road with two wins, including a sweep of Southwestern Christian University 25-14, 25-22, 26-24 in Bethany, Oklahoma.
The wins keep Texas Wesleyan undefeated in conference play at 7-0 and 13-2 overall.
In the first set against Southwestern Christian, Texas Wesleyan jumped out to a 9-0 lead behind strong defense from
Emily Lewis and the balanced attack of
Kendal King,
Lauren Crismore and
Sydney Charlton, who had a .600 hitting percentage for the match, before the Eagles scored. Two points later, the Rams took over again and led 17-2 behind the strong defensive play of
Andrea Malek along with the continued pounding of Texas Wesleyan's attackers.
The Rams won the game 25-14 as the Eagles got back into the game at the end. That momentum carried over into the second set as Southwestern Christian never let the Rams get too far out of sight, even leading at one point, 12-7. But Texas Wesleyan was able to come back and tie the game 14-14 with strong net play from
Lauran Richards,
Carly Unruh, King and Charlton, all assisted by
Ruby O'Brien. Lewis and Malek continued their strong defensive play, picking up Eagles' kill attempts and giving Texas Wesleyan the 25-22 win in set two.
The Eagles jumped out to an early lead in the third set 6-3 before the Rams tied the game. The lead bounced back-and-forth until the Rams came back from a 19-15 deficit to lead 23-19. Southwestern Christian tied the game at 23, then 24, staving off match point. A kill by
Grace Pavelka and an attack error from the Eagles gave the Rams the 26-24 set win and the 3-set sweep.
King led all players with 15 kills in the match, while Charlton added nine. O'Brien had a match high 44 assists and nine digs. Malek led all players with 27 digs, and Lewis had 18 for the Rams, together accounting for more than 60% of the defensive digs for Texas Wesleyan.
The Rams return home Tuesday, Sept. 27, for a 7 p.m. match against the #10 Southwestern Assemblies of God University Lions in the Sid Richardson Center. Both teams are undefeated in SAC play at 7-0, and SAGU is undefeated this season. The last time the two teams met, Texas Wesleyan defeated the Lions 3-1.
