FORT WORTH, Texas — Texas Wesleyan (14-10, 11-5 SAC) defeated Oklahoma City (17-6, 11-6 SAC) 3-0 Friday at Sid Richardson Center. The Rams hit .299 with 45 kills and took the final two sets 30-28 and 26-24 to finish the sweep.
The Rams answered an early 4-1 deficit in the first set with a 6-0 push, getting kills from
Florencia Churin and
Faith McClellan and two
Loes Peijnenburg service aces to move ahead 7-4. The home side kept adding points through multiple attackers, with
Madison Grekstas,
Haley Fojtik and
Migdaly Bernal recording kills as the Rams built the margin to 15-9. Oklahoma City later pulled within 20-18, but the Rams responded by taking five of the final six points. Churin, Peijnenburg and McClellan supplied kills during the closing stretch, with McClellan finishing the set on a
Lillian Breaux assist for a 25-19 Rams win.
In the second set, the Rams outlasted Oklahoma City in a 30-28 finish, closing it when McClellan tied the set at 28-28, an Oklahoma City attack error put the Rams at set point and
Madison Grekstas finished it with a kill from
Neeley Rutledge. Earlier, the Rams built an early cushion after
Loes Peijnenburg's kill made it 2-1, winning four straight points with
Jordan Daniell serving behind a McClellan kill and three Oklahoma City errors.
Kayla Myers helped the Rams push the margin again in the middle of the set, assisting a Grekstas kill before Oklahoma City errors moved the score to 11-5, and
Lillian Breaux later added a service ace for a 17-12 lead. Oklahoma City worked back to tie the set at 18-18, but the Rams repeatedly answered with kills from McClellan,
Madison Grekstas and Peijnenburg as the teams traded points late. After Oklahoma City moved ahead 28-27, McClellan's kill from
Lilia Ottenwalder kept the Rams in the set, and Grekstas' final swing secured the 30-28 set win.
The Rams recovered from a 9-6 deficit in the third set by winning seven of the next eight rallies, moving in front behind
Lillian Breaux's serving run, a
Loes Peijnenburg kill and a Peijnenburg-
Migdaly Bernal block. The Rams later built a 17-14 edge after Fojtik and McClellan combined on a block and Ottenwalder followed with a service ace, but Oklahoma City worked back to tie the set at 20-20. The Rams answered with kills from
Migdaly Bernal and McClellan, then had to respond again after Oklahoma City moved ahead 23-22. The Rams closed the set by taking four of the final five points, including another Fojtik-McClellan block, a
Madison Grekstas kill from Ottenwalder and an Oklahoma City attack error to finish a 26-24 set win.
McClellan led the Rams with 14 kills and 15.5 points while adding five digs and three block assists.
Lillian Breaux finished with 18 assists and 12 digs, along with one service ace.
Madison Grekstas recorded eight kills on a .538 hitting percentage and added a block assist. Fojtik tallied four kills and a team-high four block assists.
The Rams continue their homestand with a matchup against Southwestern Christian on Saturday, October 24 at 1pm.
