KWU Men’s Volleyball Rallies Late to Beat Ottawa in Five Sets

Kansas Wesleyan Men's Volleyball coach Dustin Sahlmann knew what the Ottawa Braves were bringing to Mabee Arena for the Great Plains Conference game between the Coyotes and Braves.
 
Sahlmann and crew were fully aware of the heavy arm of Ottawa's Akeil Williams.
 
Much like playing a top offensive player in basketball forcing them to take a large number of shots, the Coyotes turned Williams into a high-volume swinger with 89 attempts and 26 kills, and were effective in slowing him down in the fourth and fifth sets as KWU rallied for a five-set win – 34-36, 25-17, 12-25, 25-19, 15-12.
 
"We knew that Williams was going to take a ton of swings and we knew those were coming," Sahlmann said. "We knew with the size of our block that we could limit some of his kills and I feel like we managed through the course of set 4 and set 5.
 
"But what we didn't anticipate happening was Max Baumann with 19 kills on 44 swings. We thought we would do a little better job blocking him, but luckily it didn't come back and bite us."
 
The first set was an epic volleyball overtime affair that went to Ottawa 36-34. It was close throughout, with KWU maintaining the lead for a majority of the set, but it was Ottawa that had the first set point try at 24-23, but the Coyotes would stop it on a kill by Justin Burras.
 
A big Coyote block by Cooper Stepp and Viet Nguyen on Williams gave the Coyotes a set point at 25-24, but the Braves tied it at 25. KWU's next set point try came at 28-27 after another block, this time by Stepp and Ryan Wagner, but again Ottawa tied it and had several set point opportunities that were time and again fought off by the Coyotes until the Braves got two points at the end for the set win.
 
"Blocking is one thing that we have improved on greatly this year and I think it has to do with our size and physicality," Sahlmann said. "It's just the way that we handle other teams at the net. Blocking has been something that has helped us change the course of some matches this season and I felt like it did again tonight, when they thought they were going to get a sure point, we had a block. If we can keep that type of intensity at the net, things will be good for us moving forward."
 
Wesleyan pressed out to an 12-7 lead in the second set on a kill by Nguyen and pushed the lead out to 21-14 on an Ottawa service error as the Coyotes took a 25-17 win in the second set.
 
The third set seemed like the Coyotes just ran out of energy. KWU trailed 9-6 but Ottawa opened up a 19-11 lead, and were leading 20-12 when the Braves rolled off the final five points to take the set 25-12 and put the Coyotes down 2-1 in the match.
 
"We played really sluggish for whatever reason for a stretch tonight, and we have tons to be playing  for right now at the end of the season," Sahlmann said of the frustrating third set. "We just couldn't find the right mental state to be very consistent, but we got it figured out towards the end of the match and we walked away with the win."
 
Wesleyan got right back to work in the fourth set jumping out to a 3-1 lead and got the differential out to five at 9-4 on a kill by Zayin Martinez. The Coyotes were leading 12-7 when KWU got back-to-back blocks of Williams by Stepp and Nguyen, and after an Ottawa point, the Coyotes did it again to make the difference 15-8.
 
Ottawa got back within four at 17-13, but a Brave service error sparked a 5-0 Coyote run that made it 21-13. Stepp's kill gave the fourth to the Coyotes and forced the deciding fifth set.
 
KWU took a 3-1 lead to start the fifth, but Ottawa came back and took a 6-5 lead and led at 8-6 before the Coyotes came back and took a 9-8 lead. The Braves scored the next three to take an 11-9 lead, but back came the Coyotes scoring the next two to tie it at 11-all, and then added two more after an Ottawa timeout to make it 13-11.
 
A kill by Nguyen gave KWU match point, and the Coyotes forced a hitting error by the Braves to end it.
 
The Coyotes had a balanced attack on both sides of the ball, as four players had double-digit kills led by 15 each by Burras and Martinez. Nguyen added 13 and Kahlib Lawrence had 10. Wesleyan's back row defense was solid as well led by Jeremy Lapeze with 27 digs, while Jose Pina-Garcia and setter Tyler McUne had 16 each.
 
"Any time your setter can dig 16 balls that helps you a lot. Jose Pina-Garcia picked up 16 digs as well," Sahlmann said. "Those guys, along with Lapeze, like with our block, limited those guys scoring points when we didn't need them to score points and we turned those digs into transition scoring opportunities."
 
The Coyotes turn things around quickly on Saturday, hosting Morningside at 2 p.m. inside Mabee Arena in another pivotal GPAC match as the season comes to a close.
 
Sahlmann knows what the Mustangs bring to the table.
 
"They're solid, they don't make a lot of mistakes," he said, "They serve tough. Our serve receive has got to be on point, we've got to be solid at the net and make sure that we are limiting their scoring opportunities and we have to be super aggressive on offense."
 
The Coyotes close out the regular season on Tuesday, hosting Central Christian.