Box Score
COLUMBIA , Mo.—The William Woods volleyball team suffered its first American Midwest Conference loss on the season, as they fell to 22nd ranked Columbia College 3-0 (16-25, 25-27, 21-25) on Wednesday night.
The first set did not start out how the Owls had hoped, as they fell behind 15-3 to the Cougars. The team continued to battle throughout the set, but the deficit proved to be too great, as they dropped the frame 25-16. William Woods totaled 10 kills in the set, but had six errors for an attack percentage of .105, while Columbia had 14 kills and only had three errors.
In the second set, the Owls made adjustments and held a 15-11 advantage after a kill by Lauren Rodewald. The O'Fallon, Mo., native was a threat in the second set on the outside for the Owls, as she totaled four kills in the second frame.
Columbia cut the Owls advantage down to one at 22-21, but Sara Stevenson pushed that lead back up to two with one of her three kills on the night. The race to win the set was exciting at the end, as the Cougars were able to tie the game back up at 23-23 after a kill by Carol Berger.
Then, Columbia gained its first lead of the set since the score was 7-6 at 24-23 on a service ace by Erin Palvin. The fans rose to their feet looking for the set win, but Palvin gave the Owls another life as her serve went into the net, tying the game back up at 24-24.
Paula Rosa gave CC a one point lead again after another kill which was her third of the set, but the Owls and Kristen Bauer did not quit, as a kill by Bauer tied the scoreboard back at 25-25.
The Cougars, however, rattled off two straight kills by Rosa and Sarah Schwentker to take set two 27-25 from the Owls. WWU totaled a game high for themselves in the second set earning 12 kills, while Columbia had 20.
In the third set, Columbia jumped out to a 1-0 lead, but that would be the last lead for quite some time for the Cougars, as WWU went on to control the early part of the set, with their largest lead being four at 12-8 after a kill by Emily Becker.
The Cougars again battled back and were able to tie the game at 16-16 after a service ace by Rosa, but three straight attack errors by Columbia, gave the Owls a 19-16 advantage.
Columbia, however, went on a 5-0 run of themselves, capped off by a kill from Trinity Ojo, taking a 21-19 lead over WWU. The two point lead was cut down to one after an attack error by CC, but Columbia closed out the set and the match with three straight points for the 25-21 win.
On the offensive side of the net, the Owls were led by Emily Becker who had 10 kills, and just one error for an attack percentage of .300 and she was able to add 11 digs for her 10th double-double on the season. Rodewald closed out her evening second on the team in kills with eight.
Stevenson added 24 assists for the Owls, while defensively the team totaled 57 digs, as besides Becker, Abbie O'Mara and Shelby Hinshaw each reached double-figures with 13 and 12 digs respectively.
Columbia was led by Trinity Ojo having 19 kills and zero errors for a match high .731 attack percentage. Lydie Van Deursen chipped in 41 assists, while Erin Palvin led the team with 10 digs.
The Owls (13-19; 7-1 AMC) are now in a three way tie for second place in the AMC along with Missouri Baptist and Columbia College. All three teams are now chasing the overall leader Park University, whom visits Anderson Arena on November 6th.
The team has just three games remaining left on the schedule before conference playoffs begin, but benefit for the Owls is they are all at home. Up-next for William Woods is Harris-Stowe State University on October 30th at 7:00 p.m.
