[Volleyball] Kansas Wesleyan Fights Off Game Falcons Squad, 3-1
WICHITA -- The Kansas Wesleyan University Coyotes, who entered tonight's contest tied atop the KCAC, held off a strong effort from the Friends University Falcons to 3-1 in the Garvey P.E. Gymnasium.
Trailing the match 2-1, the Falcons appeared poised to force a decisive fifth set with an 18-13 edge in the fourth.
But after a kill by Tiffany Hurd (FR/Gilbert, Ariz.) had the Falcons still up 19-15, the Coyotes took over as a pair of kills from Hannah Reynolds helped KWU close out the set and match on a 10-1 burst to win 25-20.
After the Coyotes began the contest with a convincing 25-15 win in the opening set, the second stanza went back-and-forth down the stretch.
The final stages also featured each team making good use of their timeouts.
With the Falcons leading 21-17, a timeout by the Coyotes led to a run of seven straight points that put KWU on the brink of a 2-0 lead.
But Friends head coach Martin Ayin settled things down with a timeout of his own and his unit responded when Hurd recorded two kills that fueled five consecutive points for Friends to end the set 26-24 and square the match at 1-1.
Much like the first set, the second set was dominated throughout by the Coyotes and ended 25-13 that put KWU on top 2-1.
Hurd led everyone with a career-high 16 kills, with Olivia Naccarrato putting in 10 kills.
Jana Boston (SO/Newton, Kan.) tallied a match-high 24 assists for the Falcons (5-16, 5-4 KCAC) and Brittany Harris (SR/Flower Mound, Texas) had a team-high 12 digs. Abigail Knittel (FR/Ponca, Kan.) contributed a career-best 10 assists.
Reynolds paced the Coyotes (13-4, 8-1 KCAC) with 13 kills, while Taylor Dodge had 19 assists. Paige Johnson led KWU with a match-best 22 digs.
The Falcons had an .068 hitting percentage overall, but hit .308 in their second set victory, the best percentage in a set for either side in the match.
Friends will next be in action Monday night (Oct. 2) at Tabor College, with the match slated for 7 pm for Hillsboro, Kan.