FULTON, Mo.— The William Woods volleyball team is riding a four game winning streak and will look to add on to their win column at the Grand View University starting tournament tomorrow afternoon.
The Owls (12-14; 6-0 AMC) have only dropped two sets during the winning streak and that happened in a five set thriller against Lindenwood-Belleville. Since then, the Owls have swept past Mid-Continent, Freed-Hardeman and Hannibal-LaGrange.
Over those 14 sets played, the team has compiled 188 kills, 159 assists, 277 digs and an attack percentage of .297.
Emily Becker has totaled 50 kills and just eight errors during the winning streak, earning herself a team high attack percentage of .420.
Kristen Bauer has played just as well, earning 48 kills over 112 total attempts for an attack percentage of .321, while
Stephanie Davis (32) and
Lauren Rodewald (26), each have complied at least 25 kills and have been factors for the Owls on offense.
Freshman setter
Sara Stevenson has passed 140 assists, giving her 917 on the season which is second in the American Midwest Conference and 19
th in the NAIA.
Abbie O'Mara had 97 digs over these last four games, pushing her dig total to 642 which is second in the NAIA and first in the AMC.
The weekend schedule is tough right off the bat for the team, as they play 19
th ranked Grand View University at 2:00 p.m.
The Vikings (20-11; 4-0 MCC) are coming off a 2-2 record at the Missouri Baptist University Invitational, where they defeated Trinity International (3-0) and 22
nd ranked Columbia College (3-2), but fell to Cornerstone (3-2) and 17
th ranked Missouri Baptist (3-0).
Leading the charge for the Vikings is Kadie Subbert, totaling 351 kills, which is seventh in the NAIA. Chrissy Daggett has passed out 1,033 assists, which is fifth best in the NAIA, while Kelly Nakandakari has totaled 496 digs for the team.
GVU has totaled 1,525 kills on the season, coming out to an average of 12.7 kills/per set, which is first in the NAIA and they also rank first in assists, having 1,380 for an average of 11.5 per set. The Vikings started off the season 0-5 against top 25 teams, but have played better as of late, defeating then eighth ranked Georgetown College, 24
th Hastings College, 13
th Bellevue University and 22
nd ranked Columbia College.
Game two for the Owls begins at 6:00 p.m. and that will be in a rematch from the Ashford University Tournament against (RV) Viterbo University (24-7; 3-0 MCC).
In their previous matchup, the Hawks defeated the Owls in straight sets 3-0 (10-25, 22-25, 23-25).
Sara Stevenson collected a double-double handing out 21 assists to go along with 12 digs. Becker led the team with seven kills, while Bauer and
Emma Aschenbrenner each added five.
Since then, the Hawks have gone 10-5 and they are led by Alicia Olson who has totaled 406 kills on the season, which is third in the NAIA. Brianna Brinkman has contributed 760 assists, while Jennifer Krentz leads the team in digs with 571.
As a team, Viterbo ranks ninth in the NAIA in kills 1,324 (12.3 per/set), sixth in assists totaling 1,228 (11.7 per/set) and 10
th in digs earning 1,799 (17.8 per/set).
It will be a battle on defense between the Owls and Hawks as two top 10 teams nationally in total digs go head-to-head, with WWU being ranked third having 1,885 (19.2 per/set) on the season.
On Saturday, the Owls will be getting underway early in the morning, as they square off against (RV) Jamestown College (21-6; 7-0 NSAA) at 10:00 a.m.
Like William Woods, the Jimmies are on a six game winning streak and have only dropped one set over the past 12 days and that came against Briar Cliff University.
Sarah Becker is leading the Jimmies with 259 kills, and has an astounding attack percentage of .501. Janna Johnson and Alaina Brown will be other players to keep an eye on, as the duo has combined for 363 kills.
Setting up the outside hitters for the Jimmies is the combo of Kaia Buck and Kelsey Deragisch. Each setter has at least 440 assists on the season for an average just under 5.50 assists per game.
As a team, they rank 12
th in the NAIA in attack percentage (.265), 14
th in total service aces (180), and 18
th in total blocks (210.5). Becker is not only an important offensively for the Jimmies, but defensively as well, totaling 90 blocks.
The final game of the tournament will be at 2:00 p.m. on Saturday, when the Owls face Ashford University (15-12).
After closing out the months of August and September with a record of 13-5, October has not fared well for the Saints, as they have lost seven of their last nine games, including a six game losing streak over a 10 day span to start the month.
Still the Saints are a very dangerous team, especially on the defensive side of the net, totaling 1,813 digs and 213 blocks, which puts Ashford in the top 20 in the NAIA in those categories.
On offense, Victoria Day has notched 246 kills on the season, while teammate Kristen Kotch has totaled 212 through 27 games. Verenice Chaparro has contributed 477 assists, while Danielle Rzewnicki has handed out a respectable 423 assists.
The 1,813 digs can be attributed to Samantha Schultz totaling 505 on the year, while three other Ashford players have at least 200 digs.
Fans should stay updated on wwuowls.com on Friday and Saturday evening for full recap and scores from this weekend's tournament.
