Oklahoma City University Athletics

SALINA, Kan. – Oklahoma City captured a pair of 3-1 matches in the Coyote Classic on Saturday to move to 6-0 on the season for the first time in program history.
 
The Stars defeated Ottawa, 25-17, 25-11, 18-25, 25-15, and Kansas Wesleyan, 26-24, 25-16, 18-25, 26-24, to stay unbeaten.
 
"I'm extremely proud of our team and the start we have had," said OCU Head Coach Kristen Coventon. "We have some injuries and we were missing some people this weekend as well and I love how so many people are stepping up. Right now, we have a next man up mentality and we are going to need that heading in to conference play next week."

The 2007 and 2014 teams both won their first five matches of the season.
 
Stars 3, Ottawa 1
 
Kacie Townend, Grace Smallwood and Natalie Adams had double-doubles for the Stars. Townsend led three Stars in double-figure kills with 13 and Grace Smallwood and Amber Jones added 11 each. Adams had 41 assists. Townsend and Kate Cleofe had two aces each.
 
Cleofe led the back row with 14 digs, followed by Smallwood with 13 and Townsend and Adams with 10 apiece. Jones led the team with three blocks.
 
The Stars swung at a .261 percentage for the match.
 
Stars 3, Kansas Wesleyan 1
 
The Stars got the hard-earned win behind a 20-20 effort from Smallwood, who registered 24 kills and 21 digs. Jones added 14 kills and Townsend had 13. Adams dealt 57 assists.
 
Joeci Hunt and Cleofe had two aces each.
 
Along with the 21 digs by Smallwood, Cleofe added 20, Townsend had 19 and Hunt posted 11. Jones was in on five blocks while Smallwood, Adams and Maddie Edwards had three each.
 
OCU trailed 23-20 in the first set before tying the match on a kill by Smallwood and successive blocks by Jones and Smallwood then Jones and Adams. Facing set point, Smallwood came up with a kill to tie before the Stars won on consecutive Coyote attack errors.
 
The Stars led by as many as 10 points in the second set before Edwards ended the set with a kill.
 
After falling in the third set, the Stars again faced set point in the fourth set, down 24-23. Townsend and Jones had back-to-back kills to set up match point and the Stars got the match on a mishandled KWU set.
 
The 6-0 Stars open Sooner Athletic Conference play next week, visiting John Brown on Friday and College of the Ozarks on Saturday.