McPHERSON, Kan. --- The McPherson College volleyball team saw its four-match winning streak snapped with a 25-18, 26-24, 20-25, 25-10 loss to rival Kansas Wesleyan University on Wednesday at the Sport Center in a Kansas Collegiate Athletic Conference (KCAC) matchup.
The teams traded points to open the match, but the Coyotes (13-11, 9-2 KCAC) went on a 4-0 run behind an ace by Bailey Gillig and two Bulldogs errors later on Gillig's serve to turn a 6-5 deficit into a 9-6 lead. Kansas Wesleyan played with a cushion from there, extending the lead to 20-14 with a 6-1 run and ending the set by scoring three of the last four points.
McPherson (13-7, 6-5 KCAC) jumped out to a 4-2 lead to open the second set and led by as many as seven before Kansas Wesleyan began to rally. With the Bulldogs leading 16-10, the Coyotes pieced together a 12-5 run to retake the lead at 22-21. The teams traded the next four points with
Jessica Sanders (Rhome, Texas) tying the set at 24-24 when she slammed a home a free ball for a kill. KWU got the side-out on a kill by Valerie Most to give the Coyotes set point, then Hannah Reynolds closed it out with an ace serve that Emily Warner was unable to handle.
The third set started out much like the second with McPherson jumping out to 9-5 lead before Kansas Wesleyan responded with five straight points - again on Gillig's serve - to move ahead by one at 10-9. The Bulldogs knotted the score on a KWU attack error, then traded side-outs to move the score to 11-11. The Coyotes took the next three points on back-to-back kills by Reynolds and a Sanders attack error, but a 5-1 McPherson run gave the Bulldogs back the lead. Kansas Wesleyan scored two of the next three to tie the set at 17-17, but 6-1 run down the stretch helped the host put the set out of reach.
The Coyotes rushed out to a 4-1 lead in the fourth set but the Bulldogs responded with five of the next six points to grab a 6-5 advantage. A 9-3 run a short time later helped KWU turn an 8-7 deficit into a 16-11 lead - one it would not relinquish. The final blow came with Kansas Wesleyan leading 20-16 when Kim Blusher ended a marathon 15-volley rally with a kill. That led to a McPherson timeout. Coming out of the timeout, the teams traded points the rest of the way with Kelsey Plummer ending the match on a kill off an assist from Shelby Craig.
Blusher finished with a match-high 18 kills to lead the Coyotes, while adding three block assists. Most added 14 kills, four digs and a block assist, and Reynolds had 13 kills, an ace, two digs and three block assists.
Craig had 26 of the Coyotes' 52 assists, while Taylor Dodge added 24 and nine digs. Gillig had a match-high 20 digs and Bailee Fritts added 18. In addition to the match-ending kill - one of her five totla - Plummer also had seven blocks (one solo).
Lexi Kite (Thorton, Colo.) finished with a double-double, including 13 digs and a team-high 13 kills. Sanders added 12 kills and a pair of solo blocks.
Devrie Sombers (Colorado Springs, Colo.),
Leia Seiler (Fort Lupton, Colo.) and
Jocelyn Cochran (Newton, Kan.) each tallied six kills with Cochran adding nine digs.
Morgan Little (Las Vegas, Nev.) led the Bulldogs in assists with 21, just one more than
Kaitlyn Heinis (Oviedo, Fla.). Little added six digs, while Heinis had five service aces.
Emily Warner (Wichita, Kan.) added a team-high 17 digs from her libero position.
"Kansas Wesleyan is a strong, scrappy and balanced team," said head coach
Jessica Cleveland. "We stepped up to the challenge but just got out played. The girls never gave up and they worked for every point."
Wednesday's match marked the end of the first half of the Bulldogs' KCAC schedule. The back half of the double round-robin schedule begins Saturday with a matchup at winless Bethel College (0-13, 0-11 KCAC) in North Newton. First serve is set for 1 p.m. The Bulldogs posted a 3-0 sweep over the Threshers (25-20, 25-10, 25-19) in their first meeting of the season on August 31.
