Box Score
FULTON, Mo. -- The No. 4 seed William Woods University volleyball team was able to battle back from a 2-0 deficit, but ran out of gas at the end as they dropped a thrilling five-set match 3-2 (21-25, 21-25, 26-24, 26-24, 12-15) to No. 5 seed Freed-Hardeman University in the first round of the American Midwest Conference Tournament on Wednesday night.
William Woods (14-21) found itself down 2-0 after Freed-Hardeman (17-9) took a pair of 25-21 set victories to open the match. The Owls battled back and scored a pair of thrilling 26-24 wins to tie the match up at 2-2. Both teams battled to an 11-11 tie in the deciding set, but it was the Lady Lions closing the frame on a 4-1 run to end the Owls season in the first round of the AMC Tournament.
WWU was unable to capitalize on a pair of spectacular performances from sophomore Emily Becker and junior Kristen Bauer. The two outside hitters combined for 37 of the team's 64 kills, as Becker tallied 19 and Bauer was one off her pace with 18.
Despite their performance the duo could not match the 48 combine kills of Freed-Hardeman's Daymari Brito and Allie Moss. Brito had an outstanding night as she posted a match-high 25 kills and .365 attack percentage, while Moss tallied 23 kills to lead the Lady Lions to the first round upset.
Junior libero Abbie O'Mara collected a match-high 36 digs, as the St. Peters, Mo., native ends the 2013 season with the most digs in a single season in school history with 861 digs.
Sara Stevenson posted a double-double on the night, as the setter ended her freshman campaign with 54 assists and 11 digs.
William Woods started the night out promising, as they jumped to a 5-1 lead to open set one. Freed-Hardeman pulled within one point at 10-9 after an Owls attack error. The Lady Lions were able to tie the set at 14-14, but it would be a short lived tie for FHU, as a Lauren Rodewald kill gave the Owls back its one-point advantage at 15-14. Freed-Hardeman gained its first lead of the set at 20-19, but a Becker kill quickly tied it back up at 20-20. From that point the Lady Lions scored five of the set's next six points to score the 25-21 opening set victory.
The Owls grabbed another quick lead to open set two, this time in the 5-3 variety, but FHU rallied to tie the set at 7-7. Brito gave Freed-Hardeman its first lead of the set after her kill made it 9-8, but a service error on the on suing serve tied it back up at 9-9. William Woods took an 11-9 lead after back-to-back FHU attack errors, but a 3-0 run later in the set gave the Lady Lions a 17-14 lead. The AMC debutant was able to maintain its three-point lead for the remainder of the set, as went up two sets to none with another 25-21 win.
For the third straight set the Owls held an earlier lead at 5-2. Freed-Hardeman battled back again to tie the frame at 12-12, and eventually took a 16-13 lead. Stephanie Davis tied the game at 16-16 to cap off a 3-0 William Woods run, and back-to-back kills by Bauer helped the Owls reclaim its lead at 18-17. William Woods took its biggest lead of the set at 21-18 to force a FHU timeout. Out of the break, the Lady Lions were able to cut its deficit to one at 21-20, but a Becker kill pushed the WWU lead back out to two. Freed-Hardeman battled back to tie the set at 24-24, but William Woods rolled off the set's next two points to score a 26-24 victory to force set four.
Freed-Hardeman jumped to a 10-5 lead in set four and maintained a four point lead at 15-11, before William Woods used a 6-2 run to tie the set at 17-17. Both teams battled back and forth over the next eight points as the frame remained tied at 21-21. Back-to-back WWU attack errors gave the Lady Lions a 23-21 lead, but FHU was unable to capitalize and they also committed two consecutive errors to tie the set back up at 23-23. Stevenson's kill broke a 24-24 tie, and another Lady Lions error gave William Woods its second consecutive 26-24 win to force a fifth and final set.
Becker and Brito both brought out their best performance in the final frame, as each outside hitter collected five kills in the set. FHU took a 4-1 lead, but William Woods was able to tie it up at 7-7 with a Becker kill. Brito gave the Lady Lions an 8-7 lead with a kill just before the switch. Becker and Brito traded points as the set was tied at 9-9, and Stevenson gave the Owls a 10-9 lead with a kill. Brito immediately tied the set at 10-10, but then Rachel Frabotta came through in the clutch, as her first kill of the match gave WWU back its one-point lead at 11-10. Freed-Hardeman scored the next two points to take a 12-11 lead that they would never relinquish as they scored three of set's final four points to score the 15-12 set win and advance to the AMC Semifinals.
The Lady Lions will now travel to Columbia College for its AMC Semifinal matchup. The Cougars will be looking for redemption as FHU ended its 153 regular season conference match winning streak earlier this season. First serve for that match is set for 7 p.m.
Check back with wwuowls.com at the conclusion of the AMC Tournament for the conference's regular and postseason awards.
