FORT WORTH, Texas — Texas Wesleyan (15-10, 12-5) swept Southwestern Christian (7-13, 4-13) 3-0 (25-21, 25-23, 25-21) on Saturday. The Rams finished with a 39-31 edge in kills and hit .168 while holding Southwestern Christian to .092.
The Rams turned the first set after falling behind 15-10, first cutting the deficit to 15-13 with help from a
Loes Peijnenburg-
Faith McClellan block and a Southwestern Christian attack error. After Southwestern Christian moved ahead 16-13, the Rams answered with kills from Peijnenburg, McClellan and
Haley Fojtik, with a
Florencia Churin-Fojtik block tying the set at 16-16 before Fojtik's kill put the Rams in front 17-16. Southwestern Christian tied it at 17-17, but the Rams won seven of the next eight rallies, getting two Fojtik kills, a
Madison Grekstas kill, a Grekstas-Fojtik block and a Grekstas kill from
Kayla Myers to reach 24-18. Southwestern Christian scored three straight late points, but a service error finished the Rams' 25-21 set win.
The Rams held off a late Southwestern Christian push in the second set, getting
Florencia Churin's kill from
Lillian Breaux after the visitors fought off set point to pull within 24-23 to finish a 25-23 win. Earlier, the Rams trailed 7-4 before McClellan served through a four-point stretch that included two aces, a
Migdaly Bernal kill from Myers and a block by Fojtik and Bernal to move ahead 9-7. The Rams added separation with kills from Bernal,
Loes Peijnenburg and
Madison Grekstas, then answered Southwestern Christian's mid-set scoring with a
Chase Silva service turn that helped push the margin to 17-12. After Southwestern Christian cut the deficit to 21-20, Bernal and Peijnenburg delivered kills, and Churin added two late finishes as the Rams closed out the set.
The Rams flipped the third set after trailing 6-4, scoring the next six points to move ahead 10-6 with Myers serving the final five. The stretch included a Fojtik kill, kills by
Madison Grekstas and McClellan set by Myers, and three Southwestern Christian errors. When Southwestern Christian cut the score to 11-10,
Malaya Young and Grekstas answered with kills to push the Rams back in front 13-10, and
Loes Peijnenburg later teamed with McClellan on a block for a 17-13 lead. McClellan added a kill and a service ace late before Grekstas put the Rams at set point, and after Southwestern Christian got back within 24-21, Peijnenburg finished the set with a kill from Myers for a 25-21 win.
McClellan led the Rams with 13 points, recording nine kills, three aces and 12 digs. Myers finished with a team-high 15 assists and added 14 digs.
Loes Peijnenburg tallied seven kills while hitting .500, adding two aces and two block assists.
Lillian Breaux contributed 13 assists, five digs and converted her lone attack.
Rams stay home next week as they welcome Nelson UNiversity on Tuesday, October 27 at 6pm in the Sid Richardson Center.
