Box Score 1 |
Box Score 2 KANSAS CITY, MO - Facing some extremely tough competition, the Kentucky Wesleyan Panthers fell 3-0 to both Northwest Missouri State and Rockhurst on Friday.
Game One
Facing the #13 ranked Northwest Missouri State Bearcats, the Panthers started off slow, dropping the opening set 25-12. Wesleyan found it's way in the second set, starting off hot and using two kills from
Olivia Patton to take a 16-14 lead midway through the set. Errors from the Bearcats and another Patton kill allowed Wesleyan to take a 22-21 lead late, but NMSU broke a 23-23 tie with two straight points to win the set. In the third set, Wesleyan went down 7-0 early, putting them in a tough spot to come back. Despite the hole, Wesleyan clawed back to within two behind the big arm of
Nicole Hughes, making it 10-8. Northwest Missouri State found another groove, as they used a few big scoring runs to take the set 25-14.
Olivia Patton shined, notching 12 kills on a .333 hitting percentage.
Julia Kupper dished out 23 assists, while
Hallie McGuire led with six digs.
Game Two
Wesleyan hung strong with undefeated Rockhurst, but would eventually fall 3-0 (17-25, 20-25, 22-25).
Wesleyan got down early in the opening set and couldn't quite come back, falling 25-17. A 5-0 run late in teh second set allowed Wesleyan to pull within 19-16. Oliva Patton recorded three kills in the run, the Hawks then extended their lead to 20-16, but th Panthers rattled-off four more points to tie set at 20. Wesleyan won nine of the 10 points with Patton collecting four kills. However, Rockhurst would escape 25-20.
A back-and-forth third set saw the Panthers fall behind late, but four straight points allowed the Wesleyan to pull within 24-22. The rally would end their as the Hawks converted the final point to complete the sweep.
Patton held a .208 attacking percentage and finished with 10 kills. Kupper dished out 27 assists in the loss.
The Panthers will close out the tournament tomorrow when they face Emporia State in Kansas City at 10 AM CT.
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