Texas Wesleyan (6-2, 2-0 SAC) took its second SAC win in two days, sweeping the Langston Lions (5-4, 0-2 SAC) 25-10, 25-11, 25-23.

The game was the second in a row where the Rams swept their opponents, giving them a blistering start to Sooner Athletic Conference play.

Setter Catherine Wise raced around the court to help lead a balanced attack from Texas Wesleyan's Sydney Charlton, Katelyn Mallett and Lauren Crismore in the first set. The Rams also hit Langston with solid serving, including service aces from Ruby O'Brien (2), Emily Lewis (2) and Catherine Wise (1). But Langston's errors on the attack (8) turned the tide for the Rams for a 25-10 win in set one.


In the second set, Charlton upped the ante and her attack percentage to .400 with 7 kills on 15 swings. The strong defense led by Andrea Malek, who had 8 digs in the second set and 7 in the first, let the Rams control the game from the beginning for a 25-11 win.

In the third set, Langston jumped out to a 6-4 lead before a Carly Unruh kill took some of the fire out of the Lions. But two plays later, a Langston block shut Unruh down, giving the Lions a 9-6 lead. Unforced errors and the hustle of Wesleyan's defense kept the Rams in the game as they mounted a comeback to 9-9 before Langston called a timeout.

The Tigers were tenacious mounting several comebacks during the game to try to send the match into a fourth game, but when Lewis stepped to the line with the score tied 22-22, she sent the Rams to match point before Langston stopped the Rams. One play later, the Rams took the match 25-23, sweeping the Lions.

The Rams' hustle took away Langston's aggressive attackers' fire throughout the match. Malek (23) was joined by Skylar Warde (9), O'Brien (7) and Wise (7) to account for almost 80% of the digs for the Rams, while Texas Wesleyan had a balanced attack with Crismore (9), Charlton (8), Mallett (8) and Linton (6) leading the way for the Rams in kills.

Back-to-back wins to open SAC conference play leave the Rams with an overall record of 6-2. Texas Wesleyan travels to Marshall to take on Wiley College in a non-conference matchup on Tuesday, Sept. 6. The Rams return home on Friday, Sept. 9, to play another conference game against Wayland Baptist.