HASTINGS, Neb. – It was a good start to the 2024 season for the No. 24 ranked Kansas Wesleyan Women’s Volleyball team. The Coyotes rolled to a pair of sweeps over Central Christian (25-14, 25-7, 25-12) and William Woods (25-19, 25-19, 26-24) on Friday afternoon at Lynn Farrell Arena.
Against Central Christian, the Coyotes cruised to the easy sweep of the Tigers.
The Coyotes sped out to a 7-0 lead to start the first set and quickly extended the lead to 12-2 on a kill by Kate Bebout. KWU led 13-5 when the Coyotes rattled off five straight points to take an 18-5 lead. It was 23-9 when Central scored four straight points to get the difference within 10 at 23-13, but Wesleyan captured the set with a kill from veteran Josie Deckinger to take the opening set.
It took a bit for the Coyotes to get rolling in the second set, but before the teams could blink Wesleyan sped out to a 22-5 lead in the set. Bebout ended the set with a kill for the Coyotes.
Wesleyan took a 9-2 lead in the third on back-to-back service aces by Sara Bebout and later extended the lead to 16-7. Central made a brief push to make it 17-10 before the Coyotes scored seven straight points to take a 23-10 lead.
It was a balanced kills for the Coyotes, who only needed 23 kills as a team in the win while hitting .260. Kate Bebout and Samantha Espinoza had four kills each to lead the way. Sara Bebout was listed as having 10 service aces in the match, which would set a new single match school record, eclipsing nine from Kolby Rhoades on September 19, 2007 against Sterling.
The Coyotes then faced the William Woods Owls in the second match of the day as Wesleyan again posted a straight set sweep.
The first set was tight throughout. Wesleyan led for the first part of the set until Woods would take an 11-10 lead. Rylee Serpan recorded a kill to tie things up, but the Owls took a 13-11 lead in the set. Back came the Coyotes scoring four straight to take the lead back and use a 9-2 run to take a 20-15 lead on a kill by Serpan.
KWU led 4-1 in the second set but four in a row from WWU gave the Owls a 5-4 lead. Serpan tied it with a kill but Woods got the next point to regain the lead. Then the Coyotes got things going. Seven straight points by the Coyotes made it 12-6 and after a couple more Woods points the Coyotes rattled off another four in a row to take an 16-8 lead.
Wesleyan led 21-14 in the set before Woods came back and made it 23-18 before Serpan’s kill closed the set.
The Coyotes led 6-2 to start the third set, and pushed the lead out to 12-5 in the set. KWU held a 15-8 lead when WWU scored three straight to get within four, but the Coyotes scored five of the next six to take a 20-12 lead.
KWU led 23-14 after a solo block by Gianna Adriaanse, but the Owls scored the next six points to cut the difference to 23-20. Adriaanse put down a kill to give the Coyotes match point at 24-20, but William Woods scored the next four to tie it and force volleyball overtime.
Kills from Serpan and Kate Bebout closed it for the Coyotes.
Kate Bebout had 13 kills to lead the Coyotes, while Adriaanse and Serpan had 11 each. KWU hit .325 for the match. Deckinger handed out 36 assists as the Coyotes switched offenses back to a 5-1 for the Woods match. Kori Arnold had 19 digs and Kae Bebout had 10.
Wesleyan concludes play in the Hastings Classic on Saturday taking on host Hastings College at 10 a.m.
