The William Woods University volleyball team heads 30 miles down I-70 to take on top seeded Columbia College in the American Midwest Conference Tournament semifinals on Thursday night. First serve in the AMC Semifinal rematch is set for 7 p.m.
Matchup
William Woods entered the AMC Tournament as the fourth seed after finishing 12-6 in league play. The Owls defeated the fifth seed Hannibal-LaGrange on Tuesday night 3-1 (23-25, 25-22, 25-16, 25-23) to advance to the AMC semifinals.
Columbia College wrapped up the year at 35-1 and a perfect 18-0 in conference play, winning their 20th consecutive AMC regular season title. Columbia defeated the eighth seed Stephens College 3-0 (25-12, 25-14, 25-14) to advance to the semifinals. The Cougars are ranked no. 3 in the NAIA Coaches' Poll.
Last Time Out
The Owls advanced to the semifinals of the AMC Postseason Tournament for the second straight year with a 3-1 (23-25, 25-22, 25-16, 25-23) win over Hannibal-LaGrange University on Tuesday night.
The Owls again picked up double-doubles from
Emily Becker (14 digs, 14 kills) and
Sarah Wehmeyer (41 assists, 12 digs). Senior
Amanda Henley put herself three digs away from setting a new WWU career digs mark, recording 39 in the match.
AMC Tournament Notes
This is the second straight year that William Woods has advanced to the AMC semifinals. The Owls were defeated by Columbia College 3-0 (15-25, 13-25, 11-25) in 2011 to close out the season.
With Tuesday's AMC first round win, coach
Monica Herschelman has picked up a postseason win in each of her first two seasons. She is currently 2-1 as a coach in the AMC Tournament.
Record Breaking
Senior libero
Amanda Henley needs only three digs to surpass the school record of 2,202 set by Abby Funderburk in 2005.
Earlier in the year Henley became only the second player in school history to collect over 2,000 digs. She passed the 2,000-dig mark on Oct. 11, as the Owls rolled over Avila University 3-0.
Henley is averaging 14.42 digs/match against Columbia College in her career, and collected 17 digs against the Cougars in the AMC semifinals last year.
20-Win Season
With its victory over Hannibal-LaGrange last Thursday night, William Woods secured its second 20-win season. It is the first time since 2009, when WWU won 29 games, that the Owls have reached the 20-win plateau.
AMC Wins
With 12 conference wins during the regular season William Woods finished just one win short of the school's record 13 conference wins set in 2009.
It marks only the third time in school history (2006, 2009,2012) that a team earned double-digit wins in conference play.
An Amazing Start
On Tuesday
Emily Becker picked up her seventh double-double on the year with 14 digs and 14 kills in the AMC first round victory over Hannibal-LaGrange.
During her freshman year Becker has broken into the school's top-10 single season kills list with 417 and has collected seven double-doubles. On Sept. 30, she became only the third player in program history to be named the AMC Player of the Week. The other two Owls recipients of this award came during the 2009 season when Lacey Olin claimed the honor twice (Sept. 19 and Sept. 28, 2009) and Skye Wade received the distinction on Nov. 9, 2009.
The highlight of her freshman year came on Sept. 26 when she collected a triple-double (14 total blocks, 10 digs, and 10 kills) in her hometown of Belleville, Ill. against Lindenwood-Belleville.
Leaving Her Mark
Senior
Emily Nolte will leave William Woods University as the school's all-time leader in sets played. She currently stands at 529 sets and is the only player in school history to have played over 500 sets.
National Rankings
As a team, William Woods is in the top 50 of the NAIA in five different categories. The Owls ranked sixth in total digs (2,516), 20th in digs/set (17.97), 27th in total blocks (261), 35th in total kills (1,596), 41st in total assists (1,444) and 49th in service aces with 203.
The Owls have three players ranked in the top 50 of the NAIA across five different categories. Senior libero
Amanda Henley ranks sixth in total digs with 727 and 12th in digs/set with 5.51. Senior setter
Sarah Wehmeyer ranks 14th in total assists with 1,279. Freshman
Emily Becker rounds out the trio ranking 30th in total kills with 435 and 36th in total blocks with 121.
AMC Leaders
The Owls finished the regular season as the top team in the AMC in total digs (2,516) and digs/set (18.0).
Senior libero
Amanda Henley leads the AMC in total digs (727) and digs/set (5.5).
A Look at Columbia College
The Cougars come into the AMC Tournament as the top seed after winning their 20th consecutive AMC regular season title. Columbia went a perfect 18-0 in conference play and extended their regular season conference winning streak to 155 matches.
Columbia defeated the no. 8 seed Stephens College in the first round of the AMC Tournament 3-0 (25-12, 25-14, 25-14) on Tuesday night.
Columbia College comes into Thursday's match featuring two of the top three hitters in the AMC. Kahoriz Feliz ranks first in the conference in hitting percentage with a .361 clip while Brooke Simpson ranks third in the AMC with a .340 mark. Feliz is also ranked seventh in the AMC in total kills with 383.
As a team, the Cougars rank first in the AMC in hitting percentage (.354), kills/set (15.5) and assists/set (14.2). They also rank first in the NAIA in all three categories.
