[Volleyball] Volleyball Falcons Knock Off Oklahoma Wesleyan for Third Straight Win

Bartlesville, Okla. – The Friends University Falcons continued their climb up the KCAC ladder with a 3-1 victory at the Oklahoma Wesleyan University Lady Eagles today (Nov. 2) in Bartlesville, Okla. The win moves the Falcons into fourth place in the KCAC with a 7-4 conference record.

"Road wins are special and it was great to see the team stay composed after coming out of the gate a little slow to grind out a win in four sets," Friends head coach Martin Ayin said.

After the Lady Eagles jumped out with a 25-20 win in the opening set, the Falcons stormed back to win the next three, beginning with a hard-fought 25-23 victory in the second set.

The Falcons were on top 19-14 in the second, but the Lady Eagles charged back with six straight points to take a one-point lead.

With OKWU still up by one at 21-20, a kill from Sarah Lazar (SO/Rose Hill, Kan. ) and service ace by Abigail Knittel (JR/Ponca City, Okla. ) put the Falcons back in front and a pair of kills by Ashleigh Hunter (SR/Andale, Kan.) helped Friends pull out the win to even the match.

In the third set, the Falcons found themselves trailing 11-10 when Knittel again came through, this time with two kills to fuel five consecutive points to take control.

A kill by MacKenzie Glasse (JR/Dexter, Kan. ) made it 16-12 and the Falcons went on to win 25-19 and grab a 2-1 lead overall.

Samantha Naake (SR/Woodland, Calif.) then helped the Falcons keep rolling with two early kills in the fourth set for an 8-3 edge.

The Falcons maintained command throughout and closed out another 25-19 win on a service ace by Jana Boston (SR/Newton, Kan.) to finish the match.

Naake led everyone with 14 kills and Boston had a match-high 40 assists along with 13 digs for the Falcons (16-18, 7-4 KCAC). Destani Garten (SR/Pratt, Kan. ) had a team-high total of 24 digs, with Alyssa Arnold (JR/Goddard, Kan. ) (15), Melanie McCormick (SR/Derby, Kan. ) (12) and Korianna Tullis (SR/Derby, Kan. ) (10) also reaching double-figure digs.

It was Lazar fueling the Falcons' efforts defensively with five blocks, including three solo swats.

"The offense did a great job responding with adjustments and our defense supported and executed very well," Ayin said.

Riley Roth led the Lady Eagles with eight kills and Ashley Cook had a team-high 19 assists. Bobana Marusic tallied a team-best 24 digs for OKWU (17-12, 4-6 KCAC).

The Falcons will next wrap up the regular season one week from today (Nov. 9) at Southwestern College, starting at 2 pm in Winfield, Kan.