FORT WORTH, Texas — Texas Wesleyan University (11-8, 8-3 SAC) defeated Oklahoma Panhandle State (3-11, 3-8 SAC) 3-0 (25-16, 25-12, 25-12) on Saturday at Sid Richardson Center. Texas Wesleyan hit .325 with 37 kills and 16 service aces while holding Oklahoma Panhandle State to 18 kills and a .068 hitting percentage.
Texas Wesleyan built separation with two extended scoring stretches and won the opening set 25-16. Earlier,
Lilia Ottenwalder opened the set with assists on kills by
Migdaly Bernal and
Florencia Churin before adding a service ace, and
Loes Peijnenburg later served Texas Wesleyan from 5-3 to 10-3 with three aces, a Churin kill and a block by
Haley Fojtik and
Faith McClellan in that span. After Oklahoma Panhandle State got a point back, Texas Wesleyan put together another run from 11-5 to 17-5, starting with a McClellan kill from
Lillian Breaux and continuing through
Chase Silva's service turn. Oklahoma Panhandle State answered to make it 17-10, but Texas Wesleyan responded out of a timeout with kills by Fojtik,
Tamara Blakley and Peijnenburg before closing the set on a Fojtik-Blakley block.
In the second set, Texas Wesleyan broke open a 2-2 tie, taking six straight points to move ahead 8-2 behind
Jordan Daniell's serving stretch, a
Loes Peijnenburg kill, a Peijnenburg-McClellan block and Daniell's ace. The Rams kept adding separation through sideouts from Fojtik, McClellan and
Migdaly Bernal, reaching 16-8 after a Bernal kill and a Peijnenburg-Bernal block. Oklahoma Panhandle State got two points back, but Texas Wesleyan answered with another push, as Peijnenburg put down multiple kills and Ottenwalder served back-to-back aces to make it 21-10. McClellan and Fojtik added late kills before Peijnenburg closed the set with a service ace for a 25-12 Texas Wesleyan win.
Six service aces and kills from seven players helped Texas Wesleyan take the third set 25-12. Ottenwalder assisted
Migdaly Bernal on the first point and followed with an ace for a 2-0 start, and after Oklahoma Panhandle State tied the set at 2-2, Texas Wesleyan moved back in front with kills from Bernal, Daniell and
Loes Peijnenburg plus a Peijnenburg ace. McClellan added a kill before
Kayla Myers served consecutive aces to make it 10-4, and Texas Wesleyan kept adding separation through Silva's ace and kills from
Madison Grekstas and Fojtik. Silva's late service turn helped push the score from 20-11 to 24-11 with an ace and kills by Bernal,
Malaya Young and Grekstas, and Bernal finished the set with a kill off a Myers assist.
Loes Peijnenburg led Texas Wesleyan with 10 kills, five service aces and 17.0 points while hitting .625 and adding three total blocks. Ottenwalder recorded a team-high 13 assists, four service aces and five digs.
Neeley Rutledge collected a team-best 10 digs and added two assists. Fojtik finished with seven kills on 12 attacks with no errors and two block assists.
The Rams hit the road next weekend as they travel to Oklahoma City to take on Mid-America Christian on Friday, October 9 at 6pm.
