The Our Lady of the Lake University (OLLU) women's volleyball team took another step toward moving up in the Red River Athletic Conference standings when it beat the Texas Wesleyan University Rams 25-23, 18-25, 25-23 and 25-13 Thursday at Mabee Gymnasium. The win solidified the Saints' fourth place position in the conference, but more importantly, it moved the Saints within one game of second place team, Wiley College.

The first set began with both teams trading punches. Early, sophomore outside hitter Liza Rodriguez registered two kills to put the Saints up 4-3. Later in the set with the Saints trailing, sophomore setter Elyse Escobar tied the game at 11-11 when she fooled the Rams defense by dumping the ball over the net instead of setting a teammate for a kill. Throughout the set, the teams found themselves tied on 12 separate occasions. In the end, an intense scramble by the Saints sent the ball back to the Texas Wesleyan side of the net where two players watched the ball fall to the floor, giving the Saints an early 1-0 lead in the best-of-five series.

In a second set that saw the teams tied seven times early, the Rams found a way to pull away late. The Saints tried to scrap back when freshman outside hitter Norma Fraga found herself blocked at the net on an attempted kill. Despite getting blocked, Fraga alertly tipped the ball back over the net before the Rams defense could react giving the Saints the point and pulling back within three points at 18-15. The Saints could not manage much more and they found themselves on the short end of an 18-25 score, evening the series at one game a piece.

The third set proved to be the critical one as the Saints found themselves in an early hole when they fell behind 8-1. Instead of calling a timeout, head coach Mark Lee opted to let his team battle back. Junior outside hitter Kelsey Johnson answered the call and unleashed a kill to bring the score to 8-2. Immediately after Rodriguez added another kill, she teamed up with senior middle blocker Melanie Valenciana for a block to bring the score to 8-4. Valenciana continued on, this time teaming with Johnson for another block. Rodriguez jumped back into the fray with another kill, and moments later, an error by the Rams evened the score at 8-8. From that point on, the teams traded points until late in the game when senior middle blocker Robyn Bush combined with Rodriguez to block a Rams kill, then followed her block with a kill of her own to tie the game at 23-23. After an error by the Rams gave the Saints set point, Rodriguez finished the game with an unassisted block to end the set and give the Saints a 2-1 advantage in the series.

Riding an adrenaline high from their third-set comeback, the Saints continued their hot play into the fourth and quickly jumped out to a 14-8 lead off of strong play by Johnson and Bush and two aces by senior defensive specialist Danielle Otero. After another ace by Escobar pushed the Saints advantage to 17-9, the Saints stepped on the pedal and pushed the Rams to match point 24-13, and Rodriguez finished the match with an ace.

The win improved the Saints overall record to 10-8, and 5-2 in the conference.

Stats for the game:

Aces: Elyse Escobar, Sarah Lindsay, Liza Rodriguez, 1; Danielle Otero, 2

Assists: Escobar, 17; Jennifer Herrera and Otero, 1; Desirea Aguilar, 11

Bocks: Norma Fraga, Rodriguez, Kelsy Johnson, 1

Digs: Lindsay, 22; Johnson, 16; Fraga, 12; Oterro, 7; Aguilar, 6; Escobar, 4; Robyn Bush, Melanie Valenciana, 1

Kills: Rodriguez, 12; Valenciana, 9; Johnson, 7; Aguilar, 5; Fraga, Herrera, 4; Bush, 3; Escobar, 1