COLUMBIA, Mo. -- The William Woods University volleyball team takes to the road for the final time during the 2013 regular season as they take on No. 22-ranked Columbia College in a pivotal American Midwest Conference match on Wednesday night. First serve is set for 7 p.m.
William Woods (13-18, 7-0 AMC) comes into this crucial AMC match in a first place in league play. Currently, the Owls hold a half-game lead over No. 10 Park University. Columbia College (17-9, 5-1 AMC) sits a game and a half behind the Owls.
WWU is coming off a straight set AMC victory over Stephens College on Monday night as the team posted its highest attack percentage since the 2011 season. Three players recorded double-digit kills for William Woods on the night, as junior Kristen Bauer led the team with 14.
The Owls features two of the three top hitters in the AMC, as Emily Becker's 399 kills is the second most in the conference, while Bauer's 334 is the third-highest mark in the league.
The combo has help freshman setter Sara Stevenson hand out the most assists in the AMC, as she has totaled 1,091 assists on the year. Stevenson, who was recently named to the Grand View University All-Tournament Team, surpassed the 1,000-assist mark over the weekend in a five-set loss to the University of Jamestown.
Defense has been the Owls calling card this season, as their 2,275 digs is the second-highest total in the NAIA. Junior libero Abbie O'Mara leads the conference in digs with 762, 374 more than Missouri Baptist's Molly DeClue, who is in second place.
Columbia College enters Wednesday's affair on a season-high five-match losing streak. The losing streak has come against some elite competition, as the Cougars have dropped its last three matches to the top three teams in the NAIA Volleyball Coaches Top 25 Poll.
Earlier this season, Columbia had its 159 regular season conference match winning streak come to an end with a loss at Freed-Hardeman University.
On the offensive side of the net Paula Rosa's 245 kills leads the team. Recently the Brazilian outside hitter has struggled, as she has amassed just 19 kills over her last three matches. As a team, the Cougars are hitting .267, a mark that ranks ninth in the NAIA and second in the AMC. Trinity Ojo's .476 hitting percentage leads the team.
Defensively, Columbia College is holding teams to a .168 attack percentage and has collected 1,262 digs and 140 blocks.
This will be the second time this season that these two squads will face-off. Back on Oct. 1 the Cougars defeated William Woods in Anderson Arena 3-0 (25-19, 25-23, 25-12) in a non-conference affair. Columbia College leads the all-time series 53-25-1.
Check back with wwuowls.com for a full recap of this and every match during the 2013 season.
