Box Score
FULTON, Mo. -- The William Woods University volleyball team fell in its 2013 regular season finale to No. 12 Park University 3-0 (25-16, 25-9, 25-19) on Wednesday night.
For the second consecutive match the William Woods (14-21, 8-3 AMC) defense was outperformed in the dig category, as they collected just 38 digs to Park University's (31-4, 10-1 AMC) 52. Despite Abbie O'Mara's match high 16-dig performance, the Pirates were able to manage a .410 attack percentage on the night.
Park's stellar defensive performance helped limit the WWU offense to just 22 kills on a .083 attack percentage on the night. Sophomore Emily Becker posted a team-high seven kills, while Lauren Rodewald collected five. Stephanie Davis' .400 attack percentage led the team, as she landed four kills in 10 attempts.
Wanessa Siqueira provided a spark for the Pirates all night, as the Brazilian native posted a .500 attack percentage en route to a 16-kill performance. The outside hitter set the tone early in the night, as she posted seven kills in the first set.
Park University took an 8-3 lead to start the night, and extend its lead to 16-9 before the Owls took its first timeout of the set. Davis' kill out of the break cut WWU's deficit to six at 16-10, but the Pirates would rally and score the next five points, capped off by Siqueira's sixth kill of the set, to force another Owls timeout. William Woods cut its deficit to eight at 23-15, but Park rolled off the set's final two points to score the 25-16 win.
The Pirates started set two by scoring 10 of the first 15 points, to take a 10-5 lead. After trading a pair of scores, Park went on a 14-3 run to close out the set to take a 25-9 set two win.
William Woods came into the third set more determined, as they were able to battle point-for-point with the Pirates, as the set was tied at 16-all. Park used a 3-0 run to take a 19-16 lead to force a WWU timeout. The Owls could not recover, as the Pirates went on a 9-3 run to close out the night with a 25-19 victory. Â Â
With the loss, William Woods finishes the 2013 American Midwest Conference regular season in a fourth-place tie with Freed-Hardeman University. However, due to the Owls straight set victory over the Lady Lions earlier this season, WWU will unofficially host FHU in the first round of next week's AMC Tournament. The field for the tournament is to be officially announced later this week.
No. 12 Park University will finish the regular season with at least a share of the AMC regular season title. They will need No. 13 Columbia College to drop one of its two final matches this week against Lyon College and Williams Baptist in order to win the title outright. If the Cougars sweep this week's matches then the two teams will share the AMC regular season crown, and Columbia will hold the No. 1 seed in the upcoming AMC Tournament, thanks to a victory over Park in the regular season.
Check back with wwuowls.com for a full preview of the American Midwest Conference Tournament.
