FORT WORTH, Texas – The Lady Ram volleyball team reached the 20-win plateau for the first time in six years tonight as they defeated the Southwestern Assemblies of God Lady Lions in the final match of the regular season.

Wesleyan senior Leighann Krey, playing in her final game in the Sid Richardson Gymnasium, opened the scoring in the first game with two consecutive kills. The Lady Lions, however, scored the next eight points to take the lead by six. Another kill by Krey forced the side out, and the Lady Rams were able to chip away at SAGU’s lead to tie the score at 15. From there, a combination of Lady Lion miscues and good outside hitting, with a few aces mixed in, from Wesleyan led to a 15-2 run and a 30-17 victory in the first game.

Game two developed slowly as the teams battles in long rallies for several points. Wesleyan eventually pulled out the win behind a balanced offensive attack. Krey, Rachel Loftin, Nicky Davis, and Tiffany Porterfield each had four kills in the 30-20 victory.

Game three belonged to Krey. She scored Wesleyan’s first three points, and was perfect on her first six kill attempts as the Lady Rams raced to an early lead. The Lady Lions fought to even the match at 20, but Wesleyan again pulled away thanks to three more blasts from Krey, two very nice blocks by Davis, and an ace by Cortney Johansen. The Lady Rams won the game 30-24 and the match three games to none.

Krey finished with 20 kills and four blocks for the contest. Loftin had 11 kills and 4 blocks, and Davis had 8 kills and 5 blocks. Johansen finished with 44 assists and 2 aces. Allyson Gaudi led the Lady Rams with 3 aces, and Susan Taylor led with 19 digs.

For SAGU, Shandel Anderson led with 9 kills and 9 digs, and Tiffany Grant had 10 assists, and Kristie Boggs had 3 blocks.

After the game at a reception for the parents, Wesleyan head coach Rick Johansen was obviously happy with the 20th win of the season, but was already looking ahead.

“Twenty wins is big. It’s been awhile since we’ve done that,” he said. “We played well tonight, perhaps not as well as we can play, but good enough to get the job done. I’m confident, though, that we’ll get back that intensity we need for the [Red River Conference] tournament.”

Qualifying as the first seed in the Western Division, the Rams travel to Houston on Friday for the first round of the playoffs. At 5:00 PM, they will face the winner of the College of the Southwest versus Jarvis Christian College match.

The winner of that semi-final game will advance to almost certainly face host Houston Baptist University in the tournament final. The Lady Huskies are the 5th-ranked NAIA team in the country, and are the only tournament participant the Lady Rams did not defeat during the regular season.

“That would definitely be a tough match, said Johansen, “even tougher when you consider that they will be playing on their home court. But we’d still like to have the chance to play them again.”

All Wesleyan games in the tournament will be broadcast over the Internet through the Teamline broadcast service at no charge. To tune in, return to The Rams Online home page and click on the “Teamline” link. From there, you will receive instructions on how to connect to the broadcast.